Reflected, but Unseen
by Fazadragonhart
Summary: "What's the colour of it, Weiss?" Ruby asks this not just once, twice or thrice but countless times. Had she been not fallen from her high horse and her grace, Weiss wouldn't be here—scarred but saved—to let Ruby feel the colours her silver eyes can't taste. A short three-part story of not-so-fantasy Medieval AU fluff.
1. Downfall Brings the Best Dawn

Downfall Brings the Brightest Dawn

Dawn had just risen. The sun had yet shown itself, hidden by stalwart formation of mountain in eastern horizon, but its soft burst of colours had melted into the sky. The bitter cold mellowed into comforting cool breeze and danced with the warmth of sun's diffused rays. Roosters crowed through the silence and people yawned through their slumber. With the grace bestowed to it by the nature, dawn brought the world a fresh start of their day.

For Weiss, however, dawn brought the end of her life.

Dread of the night had been so kindly being her cover to retreat from her crushing defeat. Thick mist, piercing cold and darkness hindered her enemies and their frantic pace while the renegade Princess of Atlas madly pushed forward without mercy on herself or her horse. She didn't need light and warmth to show her ways, nor she needed them to guide those who looked forward to rape and loot her before routing her.

Maybe after enjoying her as the fairest spoil of war, they would cut off her head as a trophy; a fallen Atlesian battle-borne princess was one of a kind bragging right, after all. They wouldn't take her hostage, even if they do, how could they be so foolish to believe the King of Atlas would pay for an untamable royal pawn piece?

When the last veil of gossamer mist faded away and the reddish morning sky became blue, Weiss spurred her worn steed to run impossibly faster.

Clop, clop, clop. Iron-shod hooves kicked dirt and rocks as the overworked beast galloped and trotted trampling through the heath. Until its gait weakened into slow amble and tangled roots and rocks robbed it from its ambling balance. The horse even couldn't spare a neigh as the dying beast let its rider thrown from the saddle and the bulk of tired equine muscles and bones hit the ground.

Weiss writhed, but not for long. She quickly went back on her feet and pushed forward, carrying with her the unbearable pain and unfathomable fear. Her horse had failed her, just like her soldiers and her family. There was no way she would fail herself.

Her wavering consciousness was empty from anything but mindless control over her legs to keep moving and her lungs to take more breaths in. Each stride stung, each inhale burned, but she dared not to stop.

The moment she stopped was when her legs couldn't bear to be slaved by her survival instinct anymore. They succumbed to the painful fatigue, bringing along their master to buckle and crumble down among stalks of wheat. The grassy stalks were too feeble to cushion her and her armor's weight, and she fell down with dull thud rattling her dying body with pain.

Up there, the sky was so blue and the sun was so bright up there, looking down on her near death misery spelled by red of blood blotting her battered gears and blurry vision.

Colours quickly flushed out from her view, then came the amorphous black for her eyes to swim in. Her consciousness had let go of her eyes, but too stubborn to let go of her sense of pain. Blinded by blood loss and bouldering agony in her life's border, it was fate's cruel joke to let her hang on a bit more just to hear one last thing in her life.

"…I'll save you….!"

xxxxx

Weiss wasn't dead yet.

Her heart was still beating, her lungs breathing, and her consciousness slowly getting its grip back to the reality. Throbs of pain welcomed her back to life, colours and shapes fading in to re-paint her pitch-black field of vision.

Weiss was no longer in the middle of endless wheat fields, but inside a humble wood and stone abode. A basin of hot water beside her bed carried aroma of dissolved salt. Sticky and sweet smell was coming from thinly lathered honey on her lacerated arm, swirling softly with fragrant waft of herbal salve and poultice. With her eyes starting to get back to their full function, she realized she wasn't alone; a young woman with silver eyes, with sleeves rolled to the elbows, waited on her.

"Finally! You're awake! I was worried you wouldn't get better and never wake up," said the silver-eyed female, the furrow on her forehead uplifted by a wide smile of relieve. "Please bear with me a bit. It might hurt."

Weiss winced loudly as the peasant girl applied too much pressure on her bruise just to rub some salve. The girl unrolled the old bandage around her left bicep so coarsely, as if not minding the sensitive damaged tissues that might stuck and chafed by the fibers. She swabbed her fingers across gaping wounds, so nonchalantly rubbing on Weiss' injured midsection with stinging salted water.

"What in seven hells are you doing? That's not how you treat wounds! Are you blind?"

She stopped. Her hands meekly retracted away from Weiss. Her silver eyes looked so shaken right before the girl steeled into a scornful frown. She abruptly stood up and left.

It might be just Weiss or the silver-eyed woman really almost walked to the doorframe. Why should she care, however?

She tried to sit up but the pain quickly pushed her back to the bed. Red blots slowly seeped into the bandage on her ribs and she cursed to herself.

Some moments after, someone came. It was a woman with golden hair and spite in her purplish eyes. She eyed the leaking blood on Weiss' bandaged ribs and growled, "How about you get lost and never come back after you're all patched up nice and well?"

"That's my plan all along," Weiss hissed back.

In movements that spoke so much reluctance, the blonde continued what was left. Unlike the silver-eyed girl, Weiss duly realized, she was far rougher and more interested in getting the job done quickly while throttling Weiss' comfort to the back seat. Fortunately, her energy was still on the extreme low that she couldn't bring herself to berate the blonde's boorish care.

"I should've just looted your fancy armor and sword and left you to die."

"Oh, you tell me."

No more conversation afterwards, only discomforting silence remained. The blonde seemed not bothered to break the jagged ice between them, and neither did Weiss.

Weiss hated this, being weak and lying helpless, leaning only to the mercy of those hands of strangers that healed her wounds and fed her. Whilst she felt thankful, somewhere inside her conscience, her pride was scathed deeply. She swore to divines above, once she could sit and stand upright enough, she would drag herself out of here.

Weiss never saw the silver-eyed female again, just the same unpleasing blonde coming to fetch her meals and water. Day and night melded into a sludge flowing and ebbing within her muddy consciousness—as if she was in a very long lucid dream, only with real world's pain of flesh.

Somewhere in her limbo of deep sleep and hazy waking, she could feel tender hands reaching to take care of her battered form. Moving somehow janky and graceless, but affectionately gentle. Yet when her eyes were fully awake, she couldn't see anyone beside her. To whom those affectionate hands belonged to?

At some point in the timeline of her ambling awareness, the fallen princess stirred softly in her sleep and slowly woke up. So dark and cold. It must've been in the perfect middle of a night, or just in the darkest hour just before the dawn. Among the virtual absence of light, Weiss could make out faint outline of a young woman working with her bandages. A soft hand laid on top of her forehead and she could hear a small but contented noise from the figure. The woman pulled the thin quilt over Weiss' body and made a gentle whisper of "Get well soon.".

Suddenly someone came with a lantern and Weiss quickly pretended to sleep.

"What are you doing, sis?" The voice Weiss recognized as the brute blonde speaking.

"Just changing bandages and checking her temperature."

"It's like two or three hours before sunrise. Why don't you wait until morning?"

"I just don't want her to see me and feels disturbed —" The other voice paused abruptly—one Weiss recognized as the silver-eyed girl's. "Anyway, it's not like I can see the difference between light and dark, Yang."

The light and the sisters left. Now Weiss was alone with her own pondering, guilt and shame churned her worse than her battle wounds did as she realized something:

That silver-eyed woman was blind.

xxxxx

Roughly a count of seven or eight days passed since she woke up from her near death. Weiss had regained some of her strength back and her head was no longer heavy. Some bruises and perhaps cracked bones inside hadn't fully recovered yet, but not in the level where she couldn't bear.

She slowly tried to stand up and she could stand upright well, even when it took her some seconds of readjustment. She took some experimental paces and she could walk without her legs and body swaddling.

Healed aptly and able to walk straight, what inside her mind now was to leave as soon as possible.

"Yang? Where are you going? Or is that you, Dad?"

Weiss was stopped by the voice of the silver-eyed female sitting beside the dying hearth. A face of gentle innocence but otherworldly awareness smiled at her, her facial movement and small gestures gave almost no hint of the girl's blindness.

Weiss didn't like this feeling of guilt, for she was never wrong. She didn't like this feeling of shame, for her pride was disgusted to be in touch with unnecessary sense of guilt.

Still, how easy a blind peasant girl made the fallen princess felt like the biggest sinner in this world, whereas countless Atlesian noblemen would never able to budge her icy arrogance even the slightest.

The blind female had her smile bent slightly, after seemingly able to recognize who the other was.

"Oh, it's you. Are you sure you're strong enough to get out the bed?"

Weiss couldn't even part her pursed lips.

"Oh, alright. Just… be safe, okay?"

Weiss left as silent as she could. She stopped just before the door and looked over her shoulder, just to find the silver-eyed girl still staring at her direction. Even when she knew the other female in the room couldn't see, it felt like those shining eyes drilled right into her soul.

Weiss willed herself and marched forward without looking back.

The village—Patch, she learned from a random passerby—might be a remote and peaceful haven, but the time was in the middle of turmoil made by war between Vale and Atlas. Fallen or not, she was still Princess Weiss, one of the main figures of the conflict. If she wanted to make it out this village alive, she needed the latest development of state of affairs in the realm to made plans for her next course of actions.

Just what expected from a small farming settlement, however, there was not many travelers to get her information from. The village's largest—if not the only one—tavern was filled by locals and few unimportant outsider stragglers. From idle chattering she overheard, the topics were nothing far from farming, plans for shearing sheep and the same sort. The tides of war seemed to barely touch this village.

Then came a three-man band of scruffy gears and tacky weapons—low-life mercenaries cum thugs. Common sense would've dictated Weiss to stay away from these war scavengers, but her desperation for information she would never get from hay-brained farmers made her sat in considerably safe distance from them, hoping to get a piece or two about the world outside.

"The little princess who played knight? Words are the King Jacques set her up to lead a battle she couldn't win. Killin' a rebellious daughter while keepin' his hand clean, eh?"

"Some said he paid a Valean officer or somethin' to make sure Princess Weiss is dead whether Vale or Atlas who won the battle." The gruff voice stopped as one of mercenaries talking took a swig of his drink. "She should've stopped playin' tough knight and let herself as useless princess getting married and fucked by one of King Jacques' cronies. That little snowflake would've been sleeping in nice bed with belly pregnant, not lyin' dead with belly speared."

The spindliest one played with his tankard, looking at his companions with a cheeky grin. "But other rumor said they couldn't find her body and believed she survives and hides somewhere."

"If you ever found her, dead or alive, know that her head is worth of golds whether you take it to Vale or Atlas. Just pick who offers more coins!" The largest one bellowed a laugh and snorted. "I prefer her alive, come to think of it. I wanna know how it feels like fuckin' a real princess before we chop her head off, ya know?"

Weiss left the tavern before her stomach hurled out its content. She ran away mindlessly, trying ridiculously and vainly to escape the reality.

Was that really how much Weiss was worth to the world? Her "death" was in vain, if not to be desired by everyone. Her demise was sought after by both her enemies and allies. The remaining real value of her was her body for quick release of pleasure and her dead meat for a bag of gold. How foolish she was, to march into a battle with pride swelling her breast, only to know her own father deliberately set her defeat before everything even begun. Good and honest men and women died speared, gutted and trampled in the battle for their useless liege, who was no longer wanted to exist by her own royal kin.

So much things wasted to get Princess Weiss wiped out from the world. And here the "dead" princess was, back to the humble wooden-stone house where she was revived from the brink of her death.

Weiss took a shaky step inside. The blind girl still sat on the exact right spot, but now she had Weiss' sword on her lap. Her head turned to the direction of Weiss' footsteps and welcomed the snow-haired female with a smile.

"You come back," she said while her fingers caressed the ornate scabbard, her eyes fell to the sword on her lap. "You seemed to forget your sword. Are you here to take it before leaving?"

Weiss stared at her sword and the girl where her sword rested on. Her eyes started to stung from the tears seeking escape.

She had lost everything. If her doltish pride was the only thing remained from her past glory, and it hurt the kind heart who saved her from death, it was nothing of worth to keep.

"I'm sorry."

Silver eyes widened slightly before drooping gently and dulled some of their argentine shine, making her smile somewhat rueful. "You feel sorry for things you did and said wrong. And what you said is the truth, anyways. I'm blind."

"That doesn't justify my thoughtless words to you."

Behind the silence between them, Weiss harshly wiped her eyes before any tears were shed.

"Your sword is really beautiful, and Dad said your armor is really high quality. Are you a knight?"

To say Weiss was a knight was an insult. A knight was one of many other noble titles bestowed upon her, a part of her long winding formal designation of name. And this one was the most compact, omitting many other mundane and far less important titles: Her Highness Princess Weiss of Royal House of Schnee, First of Her Name, Duchess of Forever Fall, High Knight of the Order of Snow Lion.

"No. I'm… Weiss. Just call me Weiss."

"My name's Ruby."

Ruby. The name of her selfless savior she mindlessly insulted for her disability.

"Once again, I apologize for my boorish words, Ruby."

"I told you I didn't mind, right? I'm blind, whether we like it or not." Ruby reached out her arms, offering Weiss her sword. "Well, Weiss, you'll stay for dinner, right?"

Weiss took her sword gingerly and nodded. "I…I'd love to, but I'd like to have my meal in private, if it's possible."

She tried to deny the obvious contentment on Ruby's face when she agreed to stay for one last meal, but it was a hard feat. Not when those beautiful silver eyes waned into a pair of sweet crescent moons, making Ruby's smile charming enough to drive her heart beating unevenly.

She mumbled an excuse before she excused herself to the same room used to nurse her back to health. She stayed there for gods know how long, calming her own flustered form while staring dully at her sword.

Her self-reflection was cut short when the familiar blonde came with a piping bowl of her dinner, now with less hostility compared to the days past.

"I can't believe the dying Atlesian prick we found in the field turns out to be the Princess of Atlas. Don't worry, though, no one knows you're the princess those smelly mercenaries are looking for."

"Words spread fast here, for sure," Weiss mused humorlessly.

The lilac eyes looked at her with uncanny cordiality, accompanying their owner's lighthearted chuckle. "My baby sister, Ruby, is a kid at heart. Ruby's imaginations were, and actually still is, really wild. She dreamed of adventures and heroic deeds. Wandering out of this boring village, beating up bandits, maybe even get knighted and become a royal guard of some fair princess. Seriously, that kid."

She passed Weiss the dinner of the day, wheat porridge with broth and meagre meat chunks. Obviously something not for a princess' royal palate, but Weiss didn't stop herself from enjoying the warm homely meal. Maybe a little bit too enjoying it, if the blonde's laugh was anything to go by.

"But you can see everything is destroyed already. Years ago, a plague hit the village. She survived, but high fever took away her vision. But how can you be a hero, when you even can't see what's in front of you? She did manage to overcome her grief and learn to get around even without her eyes, but she will never get over how too helpless she is to be a hero." There was a somber sigh coming so uncharacteristically from the previously cheerful young woman. When her lilac eyes met Weiss' blue, however, a mirth of joy came back to her face. "You don't know how happy she was when she found out who you really are. Even in her helplessness, she still could save someone's life, to be someone's hero. And it's a princess, nonetheless."

"You're mistaken. The Princess is dead. There's only Weiss here."

The blonde had her eyebrows quirked slightly before it melted back to a gentle smile. "Nice to meet ya, Weiss. Name's Yang."

Weiss nodded slowly and ate her dinner in silence they seemed to mutually agreed upon naturally.

"Say, Yang."

Yang stopped, just a couple of steps away from the door.

"Why don't you hand me over to your king? The price of my head is beyond your imagination. Your family can thrive well from all the gold coins from it."

Weiss expected a long pause from the blonde. Or maybe suddenly she changed her mind and tied the "dead" princess up before hauling her to the royal castle for the bountiful boon. She expected anything, from bad to the worst, to happen.

However, Yang only stood there with her shoulder shaking softly from her light laugh.

"And make Ruby cry by that? Hell no." Yang smiled. "All that glitters ain't always gold, princess. Tears glitter too."

With the blonde exiting the room, Weiss was left to mull over her empty bowl.

She never expected herself to be this hungry. Maybe this was the time to swallow her useless pride and asked for more useful second helping.

xxxxx

"I shouldn't overstay my welcome, but I won't leave without your merit unreciprocated. "

Taiyang—the blacksmith and father of Ruby and Yang—set his hammer down and gave her a questioning look.

Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, Weiss quickly warmed—or was warmed, in that case—to the whole family. What she thought as her last dinner with them, it turned out she shared some more nights of dinners with them. She was received warmly as if she were a new addition to the family, but she would never able to shake the feeling that she was an outsider, living under their roof and feeding on their meals out of their mercy.

It was her sense of decency and pride that counseled her not to burden this humble family any longer. Of course, she too was well aware about how much money spent for her recovery and meal. Hence she wouldn't leave until she could repay every copper's worth to them.

Though it seemed that the father of the family opposed to her idea already.

"Don't feel you owe us anything, Weiss. Knowing you survived is enough for us."

"Please, sir."

A princess addressing a peasant with "sir"—the famously haughty Princess Weiss addressing a poor village blacksmith with so much reverence. Had the world gone mad?

Nay, the world had not. Just Weiss had been spat out from her sky-high status and her aristocratic privilege to something no better than a hunted pile of bone and flesh not worth much of respect. People with gold for their heart, such as him and his daughters, deserved deep respect from a bag of bogus pride like herself.

The man sighed and shook his head gently. "I see, if you insist. Maybe you can help me with the ledger? I can write and read well, but big numbers and maths aren't my strong suit."

Weiss took the ledger, a thick leather bound book, and the inkpot with the quill. She quickly skimmed over the last months' records and studiously learned the lists of costs, debts and income, although the barely legible handwriting made it harder for her.

"Ruby had keen eyes for metalwork, especially weapons, even when I don't get many orders for it," Taiyang laughed softly, hammering some leather on his workbench to make some saddle. "I won't lie, I miss the times when she would come to stare and pointed me the faults on my swords or scythes."

Weiss paused and set the quill down. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," he smiled. "Life is hard but we've learnt to overcome it and make us stronger."

Ruby came to the workshop, somehow able to navigate her way there with only her ears and an outstretched arm. Really, Weiss was amazed how fluid and normal Ruby moved around. No wonder it never passed her mind that the silver-eyed girl was blind.

"Morning, Dad!" Ruby greeted, smiling to where the sound of hammering came from. "Who's with you?"

"It's Weiss."

"Morning, Weiss!" Ruby smiled and approached the table, groping for nearby chair and sat down. "Dad, can you take the ledger? I'm going to work on where I left—wait, I forgot Yang left for the town this morning…"

"It's fine, Ruby. Weiss is helping me with that."

Ruby tilted her head and ran her hand along the wooden surface of the table, until she found texture of parchment and Weiss' hand under her palm. "Weiss, let me help! I can calculate sales faster than a deer running from a hunter!"

Weiss glanced at the blacksmith and he nodded.

"Can you read them for me? I'll calculate everything and you just need to write the results down."

Weiss read the records for Ruby and the latter could come up with results of gross profit and detailed accounts of weekly to monthly expenditure almost instantly. Weiss was deeply impressed by Ruby's mathematical aptitude—and she had extremely fine memory too, proven by how she could remember some events recorded few months back in the ledger. She could go as far as recognizing and correcting Yang's chicken scrawl handwriting just from how Weiss read it. Such amazing cerebral fortitude only could be rivaled by the brightest of scholars.

It didn't take long for them to finish accounting until the recent record of sales. Weiss closed the book with ink-stained hand and a satisfied sigh, just in time for a blur of black and white bolted from nowhere and jumped to Ruby's lap.

"Woof!"

"Zwei, boy!" Ruby giggled and petted the black and white furry thing—Weiss quickly recognized it as a corgi. The little canine yipped and licked Ruby's face and he was rewarded by a kiss on his nose. "Dad, can I go to take my books from Blake? She should've arrived at Patch today."

"Sure thing, dear. Just be careful with your way there."

Weiss looked at the blonde man, then to the girl and her dog, and blinked. "I mean no offense, but how can you—"

"Zwei helps me by leading my walk. He's a very smart pooch!"

Zwei barked as if agreeing with Ruby. He dashed somewhere and came back with a set of collar and leash. Taiyang collared the corgi and gave the leash to Ruby. "Go with Ruby, Weiss. I can always use a knight making sure my daughter is safe." He patted the snow-haired former royalty on her shoulder.

Weiss mumbled "Sure" out of her confusion and just followed Ruby, with Zwei on the leash, leaving the house. If no one knew better, it would be just like a girl and her friend walking her dog—while the actual circumstance was quite the opposite.

Zwei walked ahead guiding Ruby to the village's…how would Weiss called it? Plaza? Village square? What she knew was they headed to the heart of the humble hamlet where stalls sold anything from green groceries, meat cuts to freshly baked pies. It was nothing compared to the blustering market square of Atlas City, but certainly something more lively than anyone expected from a village in the middle of nowhere.

The corgi hopped around and barked, the exciting smell of meat pies and grilled chicken on skewers seemed to divert his attention from taking his owner to her books. "Down, boy! We're here for Blake, not for meat pies!" Ruby tugged on the leash slightly, trying to rein the excitable fur ball. "Weiss, do you see a woman with black hair and a bow on her head? Zwei seems too excited today and can't smell Blake's scent."

Weiss easily spotted the aforementioned Blake and collected the drooling corgi to her arms before taking Ruby through the crowds. The black-haired woman, Blake, had just finished some dealings with a couple of customers. She welcomed Ruby with a smile, though it grimaced slightly as her amber eyes spotted the dog.

"Good morning, Ruby. Who's your new… friend might be?"

"It's Weiss! Weiss, this is Blake! She and her parents travel around Vale for trade, and she knows how to get best books with best price!"

Weiss smiled and dipped her head politely to Blake. She was replied by same polite gesture, though the way the black-haired woman scrutinized her made her uneasy.

"How's your travel, Blake? Oh! Do you get the books I asked?" Ruby asked, bouncing slightly on her heels.

"Hold on, I'll get your book." Blake rummaged through a trunk and took a stack of leatherbound books, some titles written on the spine were familiar to Weiss. "With war heading towards end stages, the roads become somehow safer and friendlier for merchants. Though I picked up some interesting rumors along the way about an Atlesian princess—"

"It's a lot of books," Weiss commented and nonchalantly dropped Zwei to take the books from Blake. "I'll carry it for Ruby."

"Why, you sure are a courteous one," Blake squinted her eyes slightly. "Though maybe you shouldn't drop the dog just like that."

Zwei whined softly and Weiss mumbled an apology to no one in particular, though it might as well be addressed to Ruby who gave her a small frown for dropping the corgi. She just waited awkwardly beside Ruby, trying not to notice how Blake stole glances at her in between Ruby's cheerful banters. From what it felt like forever, finally Ruby bade Blake goodbye and ordered Zwei to take her home.

"Something wrong, Weiss? You seemed a bit nervous earlier?"

Weiss jerked softly, almost dropping the books in her arms. "It's nothing. Anyways, I see that you like books so much."

Ruby smiled widely and nodded. "Yup! I love tales of adventures! Cool stories of journey across great fields and forests, great knights and heroes battling evil guys and monsters!" Said she with crisp voice akin of a laugh—which Weiss secretly loved already.

Though, that sweet voice quickly faded into somber flat of a sigh. "But now I always need someone to read it for me, and it always remind me how unrealistic those tales are."

If magic existed, perhaps there was a second chance, or another form of chance, for Ruby to be a hero of her dreams. Alas, real world wasn't as mystical as in bard's epic songs or tales of legends. Weiss herself was a testament how cruel the world was to someone who should've been the center figure of those larger-than-life tales, and Ruby's eyes were the innocent victim of the world's undiscriminating hunger for misery.

With not much chat afterwards, they arrived at home. Zwei barked excitedly and pulled his owner into the house.

"You're strong, just you know. More than those heroes."

"How? I even can't see, let alone fighting monsters."

"A hero doesn't always fight monsters, but a hero will always save lives," Weiss chuckled, setting the books down on the table. "No matter if she can see or not."

She tried not to think much of it when she saw suspicious shades of red colored Ruby's cheeks.

She went to help Taiyang with a rather chatty and cranky customer. Even among endless rant of the customer's complicated order and the blacksmith's exasperated explanation, she still could hear how Yang's mercilessly teased Ruby for blushing around "the princess".

xxxxx

Maybe because she had nowhere to go without the fear of losing her head, Weiss stayed longer than she planned.

However, she wouldn't be an impertinent guest who lived off of the host's hospitality forever. Through subtle but persistent persuasion, Weiss succeeded in convincing Taiyang to let her work for him throughout her indefinite stay. Yang seemed contented enough to have another pair of hand for less strenuous work (of course she was still aware of Weiss' war-torn body that hadn't fully healed), and Ruby was happy to have Weiss stay, perhaps for some sentimental reasons.

In such quaint village, her mastery of sword saw no use, but other sets of her knightly skills let her do many things. Her horsemanship proven to be useful to fetch things out and from outside of Patch efficiently and her eloquence somehow helped Taiyang with troublesome customers—or stopping Yang from whacking said customers.

She often took odd jobs from nearby villagers to provide side income for the family. Later she discovered Ruby used to herd sheep for villagers with Zwei, and the silver-eyed girl admitted it was one of many things she missed from before she lost her eyesight.

Weiss could understand why. Watching sheep bleating and grazing was tedious, but the cheerful barks of the corgi, the beautiful scenery of mountains and stretching fields were something to behold among breezes of cool air. Maybe someday she should try persuading Taiyang to let Ruby come with her next time. Even when the silver-eyed girl couldn't see, the gentle winds and fresh waft of mountainous air would still welcome her senses cordially and Weiss would be glad to be her eye.

Everything had been alright. The weather was agreeable and no wild dogs or wolves in sight. Zwei proved himself to be an intelligent canine yet again, capable of herding the flock even with the most minimal of Weiss' commands.

In the middle of her idling, the corgi ran to her and barked with a wag of his stubby tail. "What is it, Zwei?" she asked and leaned down to rub his ears. He ran somewhere away from the flock of sheep, and it was natural for Weiss to be concerned. Did he find a dead sheep or spotting a stalking wolf nearby?

Yet, it turned out the ruff was circling around a small wild white rose bush. He bit on the thorny stems of the bush as if trying to pull off one of the white blossom.

"Stop it, you're going to hurt yourself!" Weiss kneeled and pried the corgi from the rose bush with a mutter of "silly dog". The yipping bulk of black and white fur yipped nudged her, nagging her for something. "Okay, what do you want? You want me to pick the rose?" Zwei nodded and looked at her with the cutest puppy eyes ever that made Weiss unconsciously cooed and succumbed to his will.

Using a dagger Weiss cut a fine blossom of white rose and cleaned the thorns. She didn't have any idea what the corgi could possibly want from a rose aside from being a chew toy, but what a heartless being she was to deny those hypnotic puppy eyes and whines. The white rose was very beautiful, anyway, and there was nothing to lose to take one with her.

It was sunset when Weiss and Zwei came home. Lanterns and candles were lit inside the house, and the sisters seemed to have a comical bicker over a book just beside the crackling fireplace.

"You read too slow!" Ruby complained with a pout.

Yang rolled her eyes with an exaggerated groan. "Well, Rubes, I'm sorry! That book has too much heavy words and stuffs! You should've asked Blake!"

"But the way Blake reads make me bored and sleepy!"

The sisters (or at least Yang) finally registered Weiss' presence and the older of the two gave her a very strong pat on the back. "Hey, princess! Can you read this book for Ruby? This kind of book must be a cakewalk for you!"

"How many times I told you don't call me that!" Weiss chided, earning herself a cheeky grin from the blonde before the latter joined Taiyang in the kitchen to fix some dinner.

Ruby looked up at Weiss with a smile that came along with her soft greet of, "Welcome home, Weiss."

Weiss knew it was a betrayal not to reply Ruby's smile, but somehow she couldn't do anything besides stealing a shy glance at Ruby.

Weird. Lately Weiss became easily flustered around Ruby, especially when she smiled.

Zwei yipped and nipped Weiss' heel and she yelped, "What the—Zwei!" Her reflex almost made her kick the dog, but the agile corgi flitted just in time and cuddled her lower leg innocently.

"Zwei, don't annoy Weiss!" Ruby called out with a small frown. "What did he do to you?"

"Don't worry, it's nothing," Weiss waved it off, trying to get Zwei off of her legs. The little canine's perseverance was praiseworthy, though. He kept nudging the white rose in her pocket before running and flopping to Ruby's lap.

"Sorry for his antics. He can be too playful sometimes." Ruby shook her head and reached to pet the corgi.

Zwei barked at Weiss, as if taunting her...or telling her to give the rose to Ruby?

"Ruby, give me your hand. I have something for you."

Ruby tilted her head curiously and reached her hand out. Weiss put the white rose on her palm and she brought it closer to her. Her fingertips curiously mapped the outline and her face morphed into one of a happy amusement. She cautiously smelled the rose and that was when she let out a full blown smile.

"A rose!" Ruby beamed and took another whiff of its fragrance again, her brows knotted slightly. "But I feel something different from it. What's the color of it, Weiss?"

"It's white."

"Really! I never knew if any white roses grow around Patch!"

Weiss allowed herself a little helping of chuckle, half-consciously playing with some strands of her snowy hair. "You have Zwei to thank for that."

"Thank you, Weiss. This is really beautiful," Ruby gently caressed its pristine petals, her eyes closed into the shape of sweet crescents accompanying her smile. "It reminds me of you."

Even when Ruby wasn't able to see it, Weiss still looked away to hide her blush. She was glad the blonde father and daughter were still in the kitchen, or she would be in for a figurative hell.

"It's just like your name. Weiss means 'white' in Old Atlesian, right?"

"It is. It's a very generic name in older times, though it's hard to find someone with that name nowadays. Maybe it has something to do with a living Atlesian royalty named as such."

Ruby giggled, playing with the rose on her hand and looked up at Weiss. "White knight-princess in shining armor! I bet you look so cool!"

Weiss felt her face was too warm for its own good, and certainly the blazing fireplace wasn't the reason. She definitely wasn't going to picture herself in her best suit of armor and best destrier, presenting the purest white rose for Ruby. "D-Don't take this to any further context. It's not that I want to give you flowers, but I can't just throw it away."

"What flowers?"

The blonde father-daughter duo asked in perfect sync.

Just like Weiss predicted, as the dinner went on she received endless brunt of teasing from the blonde, while the blacksmith only gave her some bouts of meaningful smile. While superficially Yang was the more "violent" one, Taiyang was the one who gave Weiss real chills. With the kind of smile too enigmatic to be deciphered, she would never know what was inside his head regarding her, his daughter, and the white rose.

The dinner ended peacefully. Weiss was glad Yang toned down her teasing and Taiyang didn't get her into a private eye-to-eye talk.

She picked up the book left on the corner table and read the fading letters on its spine. Canterbury Tales. No wonder Yang had difficulty reading this.

While the half of the household had retreated to sleep, Ruby was still there, seated beside the fireplace. The beautiful shine of her silver eyes made by the fire distracted Weiss for a while. "It's not like I'm interested with what you read," Weiss breathed under her groan. "But I know this book like the back of my hand. It's a shame if you don't have the chance to experience what beautiful tales this book has."

Ruby tilted her head slightly to Weiss' direction. "So you will read the book for me?"

Weiss smiled lightly and flipped it open at the page where Yang left it—marked by the infuriating fold on the corner of the parchment. "I will." She dragged a chair as close as possible next to Ruby and sat down, letting the light of the hearth's flame fall on the brownish surface and inked alphabets.

"…And in a tower, in anguish and in woe, this Palamon and his fellow Arcite…"

And so Weiss recited the tale singing about two dear cousin and brother-in-arms, imprisoned together in the king's tower after their defeat. They were inseparable, until they both fell in love with the king's sister-in-law. They both freed at different time, but at the instance they met again they fought in front of their beloved lady for her love. The king, benevolent and wise he was, separated the fighting cousins and suggested a tournament to decide to whom the lady's heart belonged to.

There was something that made Weiss distracted enough to pause her reading. "I-Is there something?" she stuttered when she realized how blasphemously close their face was.

"You have really nice voice," Ruby hummed gently—if not sweetly for Weiss' ears. Her fingers probed the surface of the parchment and stopped just before she touched Weiss' hand. "I like the way you read. It sounds like you sing every lines in the book."

Weiss did well in fighting her unknown impulse to reach for Ruby's hand and waiting patiently to whatever waiting to be said behind the girl's pout. Turns out it took her double the effort not to lean and kiss—

"I wonder if you were in their shoes, will you fight in the tournament, Weiss?" Ruby asked and followed with a yip. "But wait, a princess isn't supposed to fight in a tournament! But you're a knight too, but uhh…"

Now Weiss wondered if on blank canvas of her blind vision and wild imagination, Ruby drew an image of Weiss fighting for some highborn lady's favor—or maybe for her own. It was a flattering yet flustering imagery, and somehow Weiss wouldn't mind to be a princess who deliberately broke some sweat to win a certain silver-eyed peasant's heart.

Chasing that wild thought before her face competed with the heat of the fireplace, Weiss asked, "Should I continue?"

Ruby nodded with a squeak of adorable noise and huddled closer to Weiss—perhaps to ward off the night's growing cold. The snow-haired former royalty was glad Ruby wasn't able to see how her face rivaled a tomato's colour.

Enduring her own woe, Weiss went on with the story. The two former brother-in-arms facing each other in the tournament. One is armed with the blessing of the war god for his assured victory, the other was armed with the grace of the love goddess for his wish to have the lady as his wife.

Before Weiss could move to the details of the story's climax, she felt some weight slumped into her shoulder. Soft snores coming from beside her was enough to tell her how Ruby had been fast asleep.

With a soft sigh Weiss closed the book and put it aside. She carefully lifted Ruby to her arms and carried her as secure as her body could. Ghosts of her wounds made her strength quickly buckled under the girl's meager weight, but she endured. Just in time for her to laid Ruby on the bed before her arms gave up.

It was unbecoming of her, but Weiss couldn't help adoring how serene Ruby in her sleep. A humble girl with her vision lost and her heart full of thirst for adventure in the great open world. Maybe in her dreamscape, her silver eyes saw her own epic heroic journey, or colourful tournament where knights rammed against each other to woo their sweetheart. Who knows, the knight was with argentine eyes, holding a white rose for the snow-haired princess feigning a look of haughty disinterest.

Weiss grimaced in rue. Now her bed was occupied, she had nowhere to sleep. On the chair, a night of sleep full of soreness was waiting.

Ruby stirred softly in her sleep and opened her eyes softly. "Sorry I fell asleep, Weiss. I swear you're not boring, it's…just…"

Weiss smiled and shook her head. "It's nothing. The night is growing late already. Just sleep."

"You should sleep too." Ruby scooted to make some meager space beside her and patted the bedding.

"R-Ruby, you know I shouldn't sleep on your bed."

"Why not? You've been sleeping in my bed for weeks, so why should I mind?"

Weiss blinked and began connecting the dots. She looked at the bed, then at Ruby, then blinked again. "Wait. T-this is your room?"

"Yep!"

"All this time I've been sleeping in your bed and I didn't even know that!" Weiss gasped. "But where do you sleep all this time then?"

"Well, Yang doesn't mind me crashing to her bed," Ruby shrugged. "What's the matter, Weiss? I'm okay with sharing my bed with you."

"It's just…wrong, Ruby."

"It's more wrong to make you sleep on the chair."

In an instant, Weiss knew she was losing the battle to the pleading look of the blind girl. Defeated, she sat on the side of the bed before hesitantly laid herself beside Ruby. "...Fine. Just don't get too active in your sleep. Your bed isn't exactly for two."

Ruby made some small sweet noise before huddling closer to Weiss under the thin blanket. The girl was fast asleep, but the girl's arm strength was really deceiving and there was no way for Weiss to sneak away without waking her up.

Trapped in a blissful warmth she desperately tried not to enjoy, she was lost in the thoughts she always repressed.

She never got a chance to thank Ruby for saving her. Or actually she got a myriad of chances to do that, just her prideful self held her back. For Princess Weiss, the words of "thank you" was a shame, a testament of her dependency for others, a little gesture that insulted her pride greatly.

Princess Weiss had long been dead, yet she still had no courage to tame the last remains of her royal arrogance to say those two words to Ruby.

Still, even a coward can do something when people were asleep, when she closed her eyes, right?

So she closed her eyes, like a coward she was, and whispered, "Thank you."

Then Weiss fell asleep with hazy reminiscent of warm hug snuggling so close to her.

If


	2. In Daylight, I See the Lightning

**In Daylight, I See the Lightning**

As a princess, her body knew well when the very first light of morning rose.

As a knight, she was sensitized to detect any small changes around her even in her sleep.

This time, what woke Weiss up wasn't her royally groomed circadian rhythm, nor was it the instinct of a knight fearing her death in her wake. It was simply from a feeling of someone's breath, too close to her face. Not that Weiss didn't welcome it, for Ruby was snuggling too close and too cozy for her not to like it.

So it wasn't a dream. She really shared a bed with Ruby and—

Weiss gasped. She checked on her clothing, then Ruby's, then her surroundings, then her chest heaved gently. They were fully clothed and not disheveled enough to warrant _erroneous_ things that happened in their sleep.

Now she had to get out of the bed before anyone saw them and made it like they had been _really intimate_ last night. Ruby was the center of the problem, however. Her hug was so tight that it rivaled a muscleman's deadlock, but with the comfort of a puppy's cuddle.

Just in time for Taiyang to come in.

Weiss blushed heavily and frozen in her place, waiting for his judgement on her. Smiling, he said nothing and left her dumbfounded just like that.

Wriggling beside her was Ruby, letting out a completely unladylike, cute wide yawn. "…Is it morning already?" she mumbled, her eyes peeked under her sleepy eyelids.

"…Yes, it is."

"Morning, Weiss," Ruby drawled and nuzzled back to Weiss' body, wrapping the threadbare excuse of a blanket closer to their body. "So cold! I don't wanna get up, even if you tell me to!"

Weiss was more than eager to escape, but how she was so easily guilt-tripped by Ruby's sweet little gestures, hitting her right on her unacknowledged weak spots. She couldn't twitch her fingertips, let alone daring to break free from lulling hug of this silver-eyed girl.

As if she hadn't had it enough for her morning platter of disaster, Yang suddenly appeared with an ear-to-ear grin. "Now you know how much a cuddle monster Ruby is, princess," she cackled.

Weiss rolled her eyes, regretting why she bothered to expect something more than unhelpful commentary from the cheeky blonde. Fortunately, Yang left—much to her delight—and Taiyang was back to wake Ruby up. "Come on, little rose, wake up. You don't want to give Weiss bed cramps, right?"

Ruby whined softly and perked her head up, much akin to an animal youngling reluctantly peeking from a warm cuddle. She made a soft squeaky noise, unwound her arms and pulled away from Weiss, setting the snow-haired former princess free from the cuddle prison to go on with the morning.

The day started idly. Breakfast was humble and peaceful, just that Weiss was quieter than usual, mostly staring at her bowl of oatmeal congee to avoid mischievous grin from Yang and Ruby's _complicating_ smile.

The sisters finished early to start working with the ledger. That left Weiss with Taiyang, who was staring at her with a relaxed smile that patiently egged her to speak.

"I swear to the divines, I didn't do anything lecherous to your daughter, sir," Weiss mumbled.

Taiyang laughed softly and shook his head. "I know, Weiss. I didn't see your or Ruby's clothes strewn across the room. That, or you had some sneaky trick up your sleeves."

Weiss gasped and her face became too hot for her to handle, but enough to make Taiyang laugh. "Oh, come on, Weiss! I'm just pulling your leg!" He patted her back. His laugh slowly faded into a thin press of somber smile, creases of emotions started to form on his face. "I always have this feeling that Ruby is never really happy under her smile. Losing her mother, then her vision… They took a great toll on her, but she keeps her smile for the sake of Yang and me." He took a moment to let his words sunk, the strain in his face gently ebbed and calmed. "Weiss, I don't know if you realize it or not, but you already make my daughter happy, maybe more than anyone else could."

She doubted, wondering how could he was so sure of it. Fatherly instinct? Such instinct should've told him to beat the hell out of the rapscallion who snuck under his sleeping daughter's cover—not that Weiss was a rapscallion, but still.

"Tell me, what are you going to do?"

Brief silence running slowly between them. Her willpower to keep her mouth locked buckled under the blacksmith's patient eyes. Her teeth raked her lower lip before she sighed, "I honestly have no idea, but one thing I'm sure is I can't stay here forever."

"So you'll leave? Even if it costs Ruby's happiness?"

Her vision was fleeting. The images playing on her mind's theater was crystal clear; sweet smiles and silver eyes curled up into crescent moons to welcome her, followed by warm hugs. Then the tranquility broke with a stampede of soldiers barreled through the door, barbarian bounty hunters barged in to wreak havoc. They came to snatch the fugitive princess away, but not before defiling Ruby in front of her eyes and slaughtering the whole family.

Weiss shivered softly and shook her head.

"I-I have to. My presence is dangerous for your family." She clenched her fists weakly. "I have to leave, soon enough."

It seemed there was something more to be said, but Taiyang held it back with a strained smile and left it forgotten as he went to his forge. He still had steel to tend, and Weiss had sheep to herd today as well.

Zwei scurried with happy yips and pranced around her legs, asking for his daily ear rub. "So eager to nip sheep's heels today, aren't you, pup?" she giggled, the tension slowly leaving her with each wag of the corgi's stubby tail. Zwei barked and eagerly scuttled out of the house with her.

"Wait, Weiss!"

Ruby ran after her with baby steps, stopping just before she made herself fall flat on her face. She fiddled with the shabby red hood hugging her shoulder with a sheepish grin. "I probably can't help you with herding the sheep, but can I come with you? Don't worry, Dad gives me his a-okay!"

Taiyang peeked out from the forge and gave Weiss a thumb up.

Smiling under her sigh, Weiss took the family's one and only horse from makeshift stable behind the house. She helped Ruby to get onto the saddle and she seated herself behind the silver-eyed female. With a gentle squeeze of her legs, Weiss got the horse moving in easy trot for Zwei's short legs to follow.

The quaint breeze set her short hair flying affectionately, sunlight created strands of obsidian glow tipped with crimson streak that complimented silver shine of her eyes. Her soft laugh and giggle were in natural sync with the bounce of the saddle. Moved by Ruby's effortless joy, Weiss held the lovely peasant securely while at the same time reined the horse with her knightly grace.

The sheep were waiting at the glen, rounded inside an open pen made of picket fence. Done with tying the horse to a post, Weiss got off first. "Okay, we're here-" Ruby bolted and ran off, giving Weiss a shock of mini heart attack. She scrambled to her feet, exasperated, worried, and awed-Ruby was nonchalant and fearless in her skipping strides, dancing against eternal darkness her blindness trapped her into. A blend of zest, bravery and innocence that made this peculiar throb inside Weiss' chest.

Just in time before Ruby fell to a rough bed of rocks, Weiss caught her and hugged her tight.

"What are you doing, dunce?!" Weiss yelled. "Don't run off without me! It's dangerous!"

Ruby replied Weiss' reprimand with a laughter and a guilt-free grin. "You see, Weiss, that's why when you're blind, every little thing becomes a dangerous adventure." The silver-eyed girl poked Weiss' nose. "It's just like anticipating a scary monster's surprise attack!"

With a huff, the female with snow hair let go. "Most people will agree everything becomes scary when you can't see, but not as something such as adventures."

To her words, Ruby replied with an airy smile and a small laugh before taking a seat on the crisp grass, marveling at the open sky.

Absent eyesight would let other senses shone sharper. When the blue of the sky was unseen, was the wind blew zestfully cooler, the sheep's bleat merrier, the flowers more fragrant, the strawberries sweeter for Ruby? Weiss and her full set of senses would never know.

This day was started with a sleepy hug from Ruby. To her, it was just a trivial-and admittedly embarrassing-physical intimacy. For Ruby, a cuddle might not just be a physical act of wrapping your arms around someone and pulled them close. Her skin probably would say it as something warmer, having a degree of preciousness someone with fully functioning five senses could never appreciate. That would be a satisfactory explanation why the silver-eyed blind girl looked so in bliss while cuddling Weiss.

However, why did Weiss have this peculiar pride-just because she could provide Ruby a comfy hug?

Ruby tugged on her sleeve and snapped Weiss out of her musing. "Hey Weiss," she hummed with a tilt of her head. "Can you tell me everything you see around us?"

Weiss looked around. Everything was too mundane, nothing remarkable today.

Still, Weiss took her time to entertain Ruby's trivial curiosity.

"The sky is clear save for some thin cloud stripes. The sun is bright today and the mountains have this lovely deep green shade because of it."She took Ruby's hand and pointed it to the left. "The smoke is rising from the edge of the village, I think it's the baker? They seem to get a lot of bread to make today." She shifted Ruby's hand straight to the front, moving it following Zwei running around and among the sheep. "It's funny that the sheep looks like streams of clouds moving under the mountains, driven by a stubby black and white corgi."

"It's a beautiful day," Ruby chimed under her smile.

Weiss nodded slightly with a soft, "It is."

Nothing remarkable today—but not for Ruby.

Ruby turned her wrist slightly so her fingers can linger in between Weiss'. Her free hand reached in the air and rested upon the face of fallen princess, unknowingly set soft blaze of redness on the fair snowy cheeks.

"Uh, I just want to _see_ …" Ruby paused awkwardly, "...well, feel your face, I guess."

Weiss didn't knew what to do and say. She just let it be, when hesitant fingertips tracing curve of her jaw, hiking slowly to touch her lips and grazed on their chapped surface. In this blissful stupefy, she unconsciously kissed the soft and delicate fingers of this silver-eyed innocent beauty. It came again, this alien fluttering inside her heart, treading alongside Ruby's curious touch across her face. Feeling that was unknown, but far from unwelcomed.

Let this stay longer, if not forever, the tiny corner of Weiss' consciousness whispered.

"You have a scar…here." As gently as her voice, Ruby traced the rough line zipping through Weiss' left eyelids. She repeated it once again, taking more time to appreciate tragic detail of flaw that marred the Atlesian knight-princess' face forever. "I'm sorry. If only I wasn't blind, I could've treat your wounds better, and you wouldn't have this ugly scar."

"Dolt, why you even say sorry for things not your fault," Weiss sighed and gingerly removed Ruby's hand.

She swiftly stood up and called Zwei to stay with Ruby. The corgi obviously was more interested in chasing and rounding the cattle flock, but he obediently kept Ruby company while Weiss was watching over the sheep.

Ruby shouldn't have come with her. Not because she was a distraction for Zwei and her-well, the lovely blind peasant was indeed a distraction for Weiss, but not the kind that rouse annoyance and aggravation. Between chasing mischievous lambs and moving stubborn rams, she would look over her shoulder and watched Ruby frolicking with the stubby pooch, prodding a smile to curl up on her tired face before grunting back at those sheep and their mocking bleat.

The sun had strode past the peak and was on a third of its way down to the horizon. Weiss wiped her damp forehead with a light smile, herding the sheep back to the pen to wrap up her day. Ruby was sleeping on the grass cuddling Zwei and Weiss absentmindedly cooed at such adorable sight. Gentle crunches of grass under her boots stirred Ruby awake from her nap.

"We're done here?" Ruby asked. Weiss nodded but quickly mentally slapped herself for forgetting that Ruby was blind. With a soft hum of "Yes", she helped the sightless girl up, mounted their steed and rode back home.

The horse trotted leisurely with sleepy Ruby leaning her back on Weiss' chest. It was a perfectly peaceful, with the lazy afternoon sun shone over the green pastures and...flags of Valean royal soldiers?

The horse reared from a sudden jerk on its rein. Ruby was roughly awoken and hit the unevenly heaving chest behind her back. "Weiss, what's wrong? Your breath is getting fast."

"No. Everything's alright," murmured Weiss and firmly rounded an arm around Ruby. She spurred the horse for faster canter, running all the way back home with no care-not even to the corgi desperately trying to catch up with the pace.

She had been reckless. Too lulled by all of these comfort and flutter, trivial matters of the heart had made her forgotten her own existence as Princess Weiss-the most wanted fugitive of two kingdoms.

xxxxx

The line of war had moved far and farther away from Patch, so what were the Valean royal soldiers doing here? Going for a manhunt for Princess Weiss?

For days, the fallen princess cooped herself inside, assisting the blacksmith with bookkeeping and tending the forge when Yang was out for errands. Her fear might be unfounded, but she wouldn't take chances to step her feet outside. She didn't wish to visit Vale royal castle as a bloody head in a bag.

Her shoulders jittered and her neck whipped around to the direction of approaching heavy footsteps. She slumped her tense shoulders when she only found Yang setting down a bag of metal scraps, the blonde's easygoing grin brought her a wash of relieve.

"Why so jumpy? Are you expecting a bandit to come and get your precious head?" Yang patted Weiss' back, replied by a huff from the latter.

"It's nothing. Anyways, what are those soldiers with Vale royal coat of arms actually doing in Patch?"

"It's just a small group of King's soldiers passing by. The war is almost over, so some lucky soldiers got chances to get home early. I'm proud to say Vale whoops Atlas in the ass so bad. We are in for a big victory!"

"Well, King Jacques indeed deserves the sound defeat," Weiss chuckled with no hint of rue. "Though, the blood of Atlas still runs in me, so I still shall mourn for the men and women fallen for such a vain war caused by a wicked king."

Weiss focused back to her work, knowing another pair of eyes in the workshop was boring holes to her back. The air between them, whilst friendly, was so thick that the former Atlesian royalty could cut it to test the sharpness of her sword.

"I'll just go full blunt force on you," Yang said, "what are your feelings for Ruby?"

Weiss paused. Her eyes indeed widened for a nick of seconds, but with a price of ignorable blushing heat on her cheeks, she could pull her face back to its indifference and busied herself with random trivial works of the day.

"I know you're not a dense woman, Weiss. You know you're not nothing to Ruby. I won't tell you what she feels for you, that's for you to find out." On the corner of Weiss' vision, the blonde was crossing her arms. "I just need to know if I should start to prepare Ruby for a heartbreak."

Few minutes passed and there was no noise but the sound of hammer driven by Weiss to rivet leather straps.

To her stubborn silence, Yang sighed with a background noise that sounded like a groan. "Fine, princess, I won't poke my nose again on this. Anyways, you should go for some nice ride. Follow the brook near the house all the way to the forest, then stop by near big slabs of rocks covered in moss, you'll find a fantastic view there." She landed a firm pat on the former knight-princess' narrow shoulder."You need fresh air, you know! And wipe the soot off your pretty princess face!"

Weiss grunted softly, nonchalantly wiped her face. "I told you I won't step out of the house, not until Patch is perfectly sterile from any single Valean royal soldiers."

"Jeez, it's the forest, Weiss! You're more likely to be eaten by wolves than you got caught by the soldiers!" cackled Yang as she mussed Weiss' snowy hair.

"That's not exactly reassuring," Weiss snorted. She let out a hitched squeal when Yang literally manhandled her, dragged her out of the forge to the small stable and left her there. Groaning, she took the horse for a ride to the aforementioned direction in the forest.

Not only one, but two people had tried to reassure—or maybe, to convince—her about…whatever existed between Ruby and her. Granted, they were father-daughter and direct family of Ruby, so there was some potential bias in their opinion. Or could it be that, being the closest to Ruby, they knew things better even than the silver-eyed girl would ever realize?

It was about her, about Ruby and her. Other's opinions didn't matter.

Then, what was Ruby really to her?

Ruby was her savior and she was more than thankful to the silver-eyed blind girl for saving her life. Her heart, however, seemed unsatisfied with the full stop. Would there be deeper meaning beyond the word "more"?

Entering the forest, the terrain wasn't so friendly for a horse and a rider, but years of rigorous equestrian discipline kept the ride fairly safe. Weiss and her steed went on, until they meet the ages old rock formation blanketed with thick green moss.

Then her breath came as a soft gasp when she laid her eyes on what in front of her.

xxxxx

"Are we there yet?"

Ruby fidgeted on the saddle while Weiss was walking the horse on foot to safely traverse through tangled roots underneath. Being unable to see, it was unsettling to be on horseback without Weiss holding her secure.

Fortunately it didn't take too long before the horse trotted past the moss-covered rocks and Weiss got Ruby off the saddle. Gentle slosh of water flowing in the stream welcomed them, woody smell of trunks capped by green scent of foliage of leaves surrounded their senses, moving Ruby to ask:

"How do you know, Weiss?"

While Yang was the one who told her this place, it was entirely her own idea to bring Ruby to the scene. The look of awe in Ruby's face told her enough she had just made a fantastic decision. She smiled under her chuckle, an imaginary image of Yang proudly patting her shoulder popped beside her.

"How do you know this place? Mom used to take me here."

The former knight-princess was quicker to notice how quick Ruby wiped unshed tears, and she quickly learned why Yang told her to come here in the first place.

She let go of Weiss' arm and walked in surefooted confidence. The snow-haired woman watched her without worriedly clambering after her, smiling at how she gently tapped her foot to the ground around her.

Humming, she sat down and took off her boots. Her bare feet slid across the gentle blades of grass before taking a dip to the clear cool water. "Come on, Weiss! Sit here! The water is nice!" giggled Ruby, patting the space beside her.

Weiss complied with a huff of chuckle. Tucking her knees close to her chest, she sat beside Ruby and let the water stroked her hand. This secret haven of the forest was a small clearing, circled by wild blessing of woodland trees. A clear stream of cold water ran in zesty peace among greens, dash of blue above and splashes of other colours in between. Beautiful, indeed, but the stream was the real thief of her heart—for being the real beauty both Ruby and her could enjoy even without eyes involved.

"This place means so much for me. How do you know, Weiss?"

"I…" Weiss chuckled awkwardly and flashed such an unladylike grin. "...I accidently found this place few days ago, when I took random stroll after herding the sheep."

"Oh! Tell me, are there wild rose bushes, near two tree stumps beside the stream? Me and Mom used to pick some to take home, and she'd make flower crowns for my birthday."

Weiss looked for the spot Ruby described to find only ugliness of uneven weed growing there. "Sadly, no."

Ruby's face fell slightly and her silver eyes fixed at the unseen reflection on the wavering water surface. "Well, I'm blind already, not that I could see those roses if they've been still there…"

"I don't get it why you're sad. I'm sure the wild roses were beautiful, but there's a rose far more beautiful. And it's right here by the river's side, right beside me."

"What do you mean, Weiss—Oh, umm..."

And when Ruby blushed, Weiss blushed even more.

Too bad the stream was too shallow to drown Weiss along with her embarrassment.

Why, of all time and purpose, her eloquence came out to woo Ruby. She felt like just another lovesick character ripped from one of generic tales of romance—just that, for once, she wasn't the princess in the receiving end of the knight's cheesy sweet lines. No, there was no princess, knight, and heroic quest in the name of chivalry and love.

Just a blind girl, a war-scarred fugitive, and silence that withheld myriads of unspoken words inside their hearts.

It was a totally different tale altogether, a far less extravagant one. Innocent, confusing, yet sweet. A tale Weis secretly craved in her life.

"Come to think of it, I can have Zwei takes me to that wild white rose bush I found, then maybe we can try plant some here," suggested Weiss, her calloused hand reached for Ruby's dainty one. "How's that sound?"

"It sounds wonderful," Ruby replied and held Weiss' hand on tight clasp. "But you gotta promise I get to dig and feel the dirt on my hands. Don't want you to hog all the fun just because I'm blind!"

The former knight-princess laughed and nodded. Her heart pranced along with the splish-splash of water played by Ruby's dancing feet. For the first time, she welcomed this once aggravating fluster on her face.

Her pride relented and within its surrender she found a flutter of comfort she always denied whenever Ruby was with her.

Alas, with it came the horrible truth. Whatever existed between her and the silver-eyed girl, all had to cease.

She, the hunted fugitive Princess Weiss, soon had to forsake everything-and Ruby was no exclusion.

xxxxx

Suddenly, Weiss become a regular patron of the tavern.

No, she didn't have any newfound love for liquor.

She just needed some distraction when this amorphous being inside her filled her head with adoration of Ruby's natural cuteness. The godforsaken taste of cheap alcohol sobered her enough, slapping her bumbling fool self to gather both her wits and any information from sojourners of this backwater tavern.

Warily sipping her cheap ale, Weiss eyed these two men trudging past the door. They were weary men-at-arms, most likely just some peasant militia, clad in thin gambeson and dirty tabard with some kind of heraldry she didn't recognize—it wasn't Vale royal crest, so was it the coat of arms of the local lord?

Nevertheless, they surely carried valuable information for her survival. From what she gained from them, Atlesian forces had entered first stages of defeat and there was said some kind of pact would be discussed between the leaders of both parties. She cared less about who won the war but who would want her head.

"Rumor has it some Atlesian soldiers desert and hide here. And the craziest part of it? Princess Weiss is one of them! And they said she's worth gold coins if you take her chopped head to the King."

The apparently younger of the two frowned. "But isn't it a bit…too much to hunt down the princess just for gold? We won and that's all that matters, right?"

"Maybe, maybe not, Al. But the coins will get you nice cattle to start your own farm and for your wedding with Giselle."

"Well, not gonna think I can make it even if I want to. She's no joke when it comes to swordplay, they said."

"She who? Your blushing maiden Giselle?"

"Damn no! I mean Princess Weiss!"

Weiss thought they'd delve deeper, but they dropped that topic and shifted to more lighthearted talks about bountiful upcoming harvest and such. She waited patiently until the two militiamen left and she quietly followed suit after leaving some coins for payment. There was a shout for her to come back after paying less than enough for her drink, but she was too distraught and far away to care.

There was little reason for Weiss to stay at Patch and risk her life—and Ruby was that little reason that held her back.

Her survival or a blind girl's smile. Since when it became such tough choices.

The village's main square had just ended its business hours and merchants and peddlers were busy packing up their things. She cared less, but she suddenly was focused to one certain black-haired female. If there was anyone among countryside dolts who was clever enough to discover Weiss' real identity, it must have been _her_.

Meager amount of liquor, fused with days of bottled frustration, was enough to rouse the buried fury inside. She could only saw red as she followed Blake and cornered her to the wall, easily pinning the taller female with her superior strength.

"You gods damned…" Weiss growled. "You informed Valean royal soldiers that I'm here! You told them Princess Weiss is hiding here! I bet you're counting your gold in your head right now!"

"Dear gods, no! I didn't even know you're the real Princess Weiss until this very second!" Blake struggled to shake Weiss off her wrists, but the latter only tightened her grip into bone-crushing one. "Let me go! You're hurting me!"

"And why should I?" Weiss hissed.

"Believe me! I indeed suspected you as Princess Weiss of Atlas, but I never ratted you out to anyone!"

Weiss let the dark-haired book peddler go but not without sharpest glare she could muster.

"No, you have something other than myself to worry about," sighed Blake as she rubbed her sore wrists. "From what I picked through merchants and people on the road, the king of Atlas hired mercenaries to take your head. I don't know why Lord Port's men-at-arms are here, or those royal soldiers, but it's not impossible that they're after you too."

"...If it that so, that means I should leave Patch soon."

They shared a moment of restless silence. The Atlesian fugitive seemed to have some of her fury dissipated. Blake sighed gently and asked, "If you do, will you really okay with leaving Ruby behind? I never saw her that happy like that day when she came with you, and you too seem..."

"And I what? What are you implying?" Weiss frowned. "And why are you that concerned?"

"Just answer—are you really going to run away from Patch and leave Ruby behind?"

"Will I stay and let those bastard sellswords rape her before doing the same for me, and chopping my head off afterwards?" Weiss' voice came as low, seething rumble before it exploded. "The answer is very obvious!"

All the rage inside her faded too fast and left her as a tired husk. She didn't even bother to meet Blake's eye.

"I see. But at least please make her last time with you memorable. There's little joy left in the world for a blind girl, and you might take some it away from Ruby as you leave."

Weiss was too tired even to apologize. She only spared Blake a limp nod before dragged herself back home.

Ruby was playing with Zwei and seemed unaware of Weiss coming. The corgi ran around her too fast that she lost her balance. Weiss rushed and pulled the blind girl, redirecting her shifting center of mass to fall into the exiled snow princess' arms instead.

"Dolt," Weiss mumbled. "Can you please be more concerned about your own safety?"

Like a mischievous dunce the silver-eyed girl was, Ruby brushed off her genuine worry with a giggle and a playful hug.

Weiss didn't like it. She hated that Ruby's laugh was just as jolly as she wanted it to stay forevermore, even when she wouldn't there to listen to it anymore.

Things quickly turned more awkward when Ruby literally sniffed her. "You smell like stale bread...and booze! You're not drunk, right?" She scrunched her face in disapproval.

"I can't even finish my second helping of that awful ale—" Weiss backed down slightly as Ruby nuzzled her face with twitching nose."—Uh, Ruby..."

The silver-eyed girl, oblivious, kept on fueling Weiss' blush by feeling the Atlesian's face in such preposterously intimate distance. Her breath literally caressed the flustered pale face just like how her fingers moved along the contours of the former royal's visage.

"You must be beautiful and lovely, you're a princess after all," hummed Ruby, carefully tracing the rough line of scar. Her eyes, silver and blind, met directly with Weiss'. "What's the colour of your eyes, Weiss?"

"…It's blue."

"Like the sky?"

Weiss was reminded of her old days, those days when she was dolled up and surrounded by shameless imbeciles who tried to woo their way into her heart to gain the privilege as the suitor of a princess. One of their favorite methods would be praising her eyes. Clichéd as it may, they were never bored to liken her eyes with the splendour of vast sky hanging overhead.

"Yes, they're blue...just like the sky."

Weiss had learned to despise anyone who looked into her eyes and uttered sweet nothings about their blue hue. But, oh divines, how badly she yearned Ruby to stare deep into her oh so beloved blue irises and tell her the bright clear sky couldn't hold a candle to her eyes.

"Really? You have really beautiful eyes!" Ruby smiled. "I wish I could see them for real though."

She refused to believe this. How could a blind girl effortlessly broke her heart by praising her for an unseen beauty.

Fortunately, Ruby had pulled back her hand before her fingertips tasted tears coming from the sky blue eyes.

"Wanna come with me for a walk with Zwei?"

Weiss shook her head, then she realized she was speaking to a blind girl. "...I don't feel up for it. Sorry," she muttered and wiped her misty eyes.

Dolt. Useless tears never stained the face of battle-tempered royal princess of Atlas. Weiss had been such a weak dolt for letting this unwanted emotional attachment crippled her strength.

She deliberately dismissed Ruby's look of dismay and Zwei's whine as she got inside. Her royally gilded battle armor was tucked on the corner, looking so shiny as if someone had just polished it. Her sword rested inside its intricate scabbard, with nicks of war decorated the once flawless artwork.

If she really had to leave and sever all ties, at least she had to repay their kindness in tangible way. As she weighed her sword, she wondered if her sword and armor could sell well in nearest cities. Collectors of antiquities surely wouldn't mind cashing out handsome sum of money for genuine Atlesian goods of war. Dents and scratches might reduce their value, but hopefully the cash would be still enough to buy the blacksmith and his family adequate comforts and upgrades for their household.

Reimbursing severed ties of sincere friendship and kindness with money was a cheap move, but it wasn't like the Atlesian fugitive had any other alternatives.

Weiss was somehow reluctant to any ideas of parting with her sword. Her armor no longer had any purpose other than being a pretty collection and dead giveaway of her real identity. Her sword, though, she still could use it to fight, to defend and protect-

"Woof!"

She frowned when the corgi was back without his owner and the leash seemed to have been ripped by something-or someone.

"Zwei? Where's Ruby?"

Zwei barked incessantly and nipped on her leather-clad heel before scurrying off. Weiss ran after the corgi with her gut wriggling in uneasiness. With her sheathed sword still in her grasp, she followed Zwei to the scene.

If the prideful Weiss Schnee ever had one deepest fear, it might've been as well to be what she saw now.

Ruby was circled by a ragtag of four young men. They tossed and shoved her around, cackling and howling lecherous insults at her and her disability. Even when she put up a fight, how far a blind petite girl could fare against four men?

As one pushed her to another, Ruby pivoted suddenly and threw a punch hitting the apparent leader of the rascals on his jaw. It was so surprisingly strong that he was rolling on the ground and holding his bruised face in disbelief and rage.

"You fucking blind wench!" He took out a knife and pounced on Ruby. He tossed Ruby's hood away and ripped the front of her shirt, licking his lips as his grubby hands groped everything on their reach.

Just in time for Weiss to body slam him and shoved him away. Pulling Ruby close to her, she lashed her sword out and pointed it menacingly. "You know the golden rule of knife fighting, run away when someone has longer knife than you," Weiss hissed.

The leader towered her with his broad and tall form, but Weiss stood steadfast. He roared "Bitch!" and aimed to maim her face, but his knife was thwarted away from his hand by her effortless single-hand high guard. Still holding Ruby close, her sword arm and forward leg blitzed to offense and she slashed her sword. The blade cut the leader of four miscreants on his forearms, thwarting him to scream in horror and pain before falling to his butt.

His lackeys tried to avenge him with their own knives, but her apt swordsmanship disarmed them with quick tip slash on their wrists. Shaken and enraged, they ran away from the sight of their blood and their own helplessness against a lone petite knight and her sword.

Lowlife rapscallions. A shallow sword's cut on their skin was all it took to scare them off. With a grimace of disgust Weiss wiped their blood off her sword and sheathed her blade before checking on Ruby.

She bit her lips to contain her growl. There was a cut on Ruby's upper chest and numerous bruises on many places. The ripped shirt and bodice showed too much skin and enough foretell of what would've happened if she had been just a little too late.

Her hands shakily draped the soiled red hood upon the blind girl's shaking frame, then dropped back to her side and clenched tight.

"They… gone?" Ruby meekly looked around for menaces her disabled eyes couldn't see.

"Yes." Weiss hugged Ruby gently. "There's nothing to be scared of, Ruby. I'm here."

The girl in tattered clothes slumped her shaking frame and pulled her red hood close. Then she weakly cried.

"Dolt, I told you don't be scared."

Ruby nodded while still have her face hidden by the former princess' narrow shoulders. The sobs ceased and the shivering ebbed, yet Weiss still had this quake inside.

Merciless fights, endless blood spilled and bodies scattered in the battlefield; she'd seen all. None of it could shake her like the sightless girl trembling in her arms, harmed and afraid. It wasn't about how Weiss was capable or not in protecting Ruby, but the damage done. Some filthy small fry thugs had been so close to defile the silver-eyed girl.

It didn't take much imagination to imagine what depraved Atlesian mercenaries could do to Ruby, and they certainly wouldn't be a deterred by a small white-haired female with a sword.

The only way to protect Ruby was not to be the reason for them to come.

Weiss finally made up her mind.

xxxxx

It had been a pleasant day.

She had woken up to Ruby's sleepy cuddle and smile. Rather miraculously, Yang had just gotten a sweet bargain of fine spices and cured meat to make their breakfast something more than bland oat gruel. Taiyang proudly announced a wealthy ranch owner of neighboring village had just made a long-term of partnership with him, a profitable trade of coins and supplies of dairy for his craftsmanship.

It had been a pleasant day for everyone, truly.

Weiss would cherish it well, because she had to leave before these emotional attachments burrowed too deep to be rooted out.

Hence she built her plan. Nothing meticulous, unlike her war strategy against Vale-which in the end was sabotaged by her own father's grander scheme. All she needed she was the right timing.

Since the day Ruby was harassed, the blind girl wasn't allowed to roam outside without someone looking after her-and the duty usually fell to Weiss. The knight-princess was more than honored to spend their last time together ensuring the safety of the maiden responsible for the sweet ache in her heart, but it hindered her with the last two steps of her plan: rounding up funds and finding the right timing to leave for good.

It was hard, but she managed. She had bundled ample amounts of coins saved up from odd jobs she did secretly, as well as selling various Atlesian trinkets left in the pockets and pouches of her worn battle harness. Enough to sustain her travel for a week or two, a month if she was thrifty enough.

Sometime after the high noon, Yang left to pick up few things from Blake. The way Ruby and Taiyang chuckled after the female blonde left suggested something more than just mercantile activity, but Weiss wasn't the one to judge that. She assisted the blacksmith with daily forge work and he left to deliver a scythe blade to his sick old friend. There were only Ruby and her at home, with Zwei curling asleep on his pile of rags.

In this beautiful day, Weiss finally had her chance. And she would seize it well.

She dimmed the furnace until there were only small flickers from the embers, safe enough to be left alone without supervision. Done washing her face and hands from soot, she quickly dressed and took her supplies and sword with her. Despite herself, she took a last look at Ruby before she departed.

There the source of her heart's conflict was, sitting on the grassy ground with head up to the sky while humming a nameless tune.

Weiss left before she betrayed her own plan. She made her steps as soundless as possible, careful not to alert Ruby's keen hearing.

There was some silver linings in all of these. Ruby couldn't see her leaving like a coward, and Weiss wouldn't see her mourning for it.

Every villager she met passed her not without sparing her an inquisitive-almost judging-look. Words of her brawling against four men with a luxury called a sword must have spread. Fame, especially an ill-gotten one, was something she needed the very least when she tried to escape from this village. So she took route off the main paths, just before the bustling market square entered her vision. She didn't need to bump into anyone, especially Yang or Blake, and have them asking questions.

The hearty noises and life of Patch slowly blend into silent distance behind Weiss' narrow back. Walking on, straying further from off beaten paths, she took a moment of thoughtful pause.

Straight to north would bring her closer to outermost southern borders of Atlas. Her father didn't want her to come back perfectly alive and intact. He probably had set war hounds loose to fetch him her head. Going northward wasn't so different with crawling to her grave early. Maybe she should go for eastern course, to the mountains and settle on the most remote village there as lumberjack or something. Joining a band of mercenaries wasn't that bad, if she had to be honest—that is, if she could find those who were honorable and not a band of scum and rapists disguised as hired war-muscles.

Weiss heaved a long sigh. She pushed stale air out her chest and let sweet breeze of blue sky suffocate her. Her eyes roamed around, envying free-ranging clouds over her head. Steeling her wavering resolve, she marched onwards with autumnal wind and faraway barking dog singing her a farewell.

Then the barks became louder.

Louder yet again.

When it reach its loudest, it scurried towards Weiss along with a shrill shout of a feminine voice.

"Weiss! Please stop, Weiss!"

Pulled by a corgi on a leash for direction was Ruby, panting harshly while her clumsy gallop desperately followed rapid scuttle of Zwei's short legs.

The blind girl couldn't keep up with the Zwei. The leash overstrained and yanked her off balance. She fell on her face.

Weiss throttled to and cr half dry mud wetted by Ruby's tears

"Ruby you utter dolt! What are you-"

"You're the dolt here, Weiss!" Ruby planted a firm hit on Weiss' shoulder and her fingers clutched on the snow-haired fugitive's shirt. "What are you doing? Why are you running away?" As her voice trailed off, her grip weakened and fell to her lap. Silver eyes looked up, gazing at Weiss through her tears and blindness. "Is it because of me?"

Running away.

Running away like a coward who didn't even have enough guts to say goodbye. Weiss could feel her pride flinched but it was the plain truth. She ran away from Ruby.

Still, Ruby wouldn't understand why she had to do this.

"Listen here, peasant…" Weiss seethed behind her weakly gritted teeth. She reined her shaking words, managing just enough to string something barely louder than a steady whisper. "...I'm your kingdom's most wanted enemy. Your king wants me dead, your king's enemies too. Everyone wants me dead, and they'll come after me for it." Swallowing some invisible punch to the back of her throat, she let the heat and suffocation sank in to power her bellow, "I can't stay with you. Anyone who comes after me will harm you, Ruby!"

Yes, that was her reason. Or was that her excuse?

"I know! But I can't stand it when I can't feel you close, because you're-" Ruby reached and cupped Weiss' face. "You're important to me!"

If only Weiss could tell Ruby how important she was to her and her quaking heart.

Or maybe it was the time for her to stop thinking only about herself. While she had been too busied with her fear of losing her head, and her own biased belief of leaving Ruby for greater good, she wasn't there to understand the blind girl's plight. The woe of being left in the dark by the one who light up the joy for you.

"I'll-"

If only Ruby didn't see Weiss with such regard as her light of joy,

"I'll stay for a little longer."

She would stay until Ruby could find better substitute happiness.

A part of Weiss mocked herself and whispered to her ears how her weakness would bring doom for them all. Soon or later.

* * *

I wish I was dead. But no. I've been dragging myself like a zombie for months to finish this long overdue chapter. And here I am still having a chapter to go. Yay. Go me.

Many thanks for beta/proofread by **grndrgnzrd!** Thank you for making this one a bit less crappy!


	3. For the Red Dusk in Your Silver Eyes

**For the Red Dusk in Your Silver Eyes**

Life went on. So smooth and idyllic, like a stroll under the autumn sun.

It was almost like that day never happened, when she stood at a crossroad of conflict between hurrying herself down a fugitive's path or stay as a beacon of danger.

A pair of teary silver eyes made it as distant as a fantasy, one that Weiss would never wish to have as her reality.

Still, how long could she keep herself to stay in this delusion?

She had tried, so hard, to delude herself in this sense of flimsy security offered by this simple life. Drowning herself back to the comfort of the humble home. Drenching her shirt in sweat beside the burning forge. Deafening her ears with a blind girl's weightless laugh and her corgi's bark.

This life of hers was good and carefree. _They_ , who she feared, would never come. Even when _they_ did, it would be okay. Stripped from her royal post in the most undignified way possible, indeed she was, but her chivalric dignity and strength were still with her. Let those mangy mongrels come to her, for she would put them down to bloody last rest with her sword, like a knight she was.

Weiss wanted to believe all of those, really. Those sweet lies she chugged herself with.

She wanted to, but she couldn't. Not when fear kept her sober from the sweet fantasy, filling crevices of her soundless sleep with flashes of nightmare.

Weiss never woke up screaming—it was Ruby who screamed in her dreamscape made by phantasmagoria of blood and horrors. The terrors of her night tore through the fabric woven by sleep and woke her up matted with cold sweat, then it lingered to hold her voice hostage and get her heart slaved into sickening stampede.

Afterwards, she would always find the silver-eyed girl sleeping soundly beside her, cuddling her in undisturbed peace.

This harrowing limbo of sweet denial and paranoia of truth was a pit Weiss couldn't escape from. Perhaps this was a divine punishment for the vainglory of Weiss Schnee? A dirty yet clean death of getting her head chopped off was too merciful, hence the heavens trapped her between heartache for a blind girl and the fear of preserving her life.

Ruby shouldn't have saved her. She should've been left for dead, for the good of the world—of Ruby's world.

With a thoughtless swing of her forearm, the hammerhead hit the spot just in between her fingers and struck a clang loud enough to fully got her attention.

"Whoa, careful, princess! You just almost hammer your pretty fingers flat!" Yang said with a concerned tone that contrasted her easy grin.

Weiss only shrugged and tried to keep her cool after being so close to smash her finger bones to smithereens. She was grateful she was working with only a slightly bent scythe blade, not with a glowing hot steel slab.

Within months of her stay with the blacksmith and his family, she learned bits after precious bits of the trade and impressed them with her ability as a quick learner. The rawer processes with ores were mainly Taiyang and Yang's job, but they had let the former royalty to handle glowing hot metal under controlled assistance. It only took quite some time until Weiss was apt enough to properly hammer and quench burning steel into small knives and stirrups by herself. As a royalty, she had never expected to deal with such filthy labor of blacksmithing, but now she was proud with every speck of soot she got from the furnace. Life could be full of surprises in a way.

Done with her blacksmithing chore of the day, Weiss took her time for little bit of sharpening and maintenance for her sword. Keeping her sword sharp essentially was her coping mechanism, her excuse to stroke the ego belonged to her prideful past self—her most real delusion of her strength.

While in all honesty, she frantically prayed this sword would never see its real use again.

She didn't let herself too deep in vain adoration for her sword's shine, and her focus was somehow drifted to weak crimson-orange reflection coming from the furnace. While she was not yet as intuitive as the blonde father-daughter in this field, she sensed the fire wasn't burning satisfyingly. And a quick look over Yang's shoulder proved her concern.

"Do you think the furnace isn't hot enough?"

"Huh? Lemme check…" Yang poked a metal bar in and lightly tapped the burning chunks inside. She clicked her tongue and frowned. "Yep, gotta lit it up hotter. Hey, Weiss, can you shovel more charcoal to the fire?"

Sweeping stray snowy strands from obstructing her view, Weiss grabbed the shovel and the charcoal sack which felt too light for her liking. "We're out of charcoal, I'm afraid," she said and fed the furnace with every last chunks left in the sack.

"Dang, I can't leave while I treat the steel," Yang groaned. "Ruby! You don't mind taking Weiss to old man Bunsen? Zwei still remembers where he lives, right?"

Ruby and Zwei poked their head to the workshop. The black and white corgi sniffed the empty sack and scurried back to Ruby, prodding her legs with his snout. She carefully bent over and patted the corgi's head. "Zwei, you still remember where charcoal burner Bunsen lives? Bark once for yes, twice for no."

"Woof!"

Ruby smiled and rewarded him with a chin rub. "Good boy! Now fetch your leash!"

Zwei scurried to get his leash and panted in excitement as Ruby put his leash on. He barked and playfully bit on Weiss' boot before dragging his silver-eyed owner to the door.

Weiss belted her sword to her hips and draped a cloak over her form. Yang gave her a look at her and her sword, but she just shrugged it off and ran after Ruby and Zwei.

A common peasant of a remote village would never be able to afford a sword, much less a craftily made Atlesian one. Unless the person of interest got it as a thief, or as someone more than just at the bottom of feudal hierarchy.

Someone royal, just like Princess Weiss.

Most of her sword was hidden by her cloak, but when the hilt peeked out, eyes of the villagers instantly scrutinized the sword and her. Who they really saw in her, Weiss would never know, but she knew curiosity and restlessness were a recipe to disaster. Whispers and gossips flown by the wind might have had spreaded her scent for the warhounds to sniff.

Zwei led them to Patch's outskirts and she was happy to go where less people would squint their eyes at her sword. The charcoal burner's shack stood in between the fields of the village and the forest on far background with telltale smoke coming out from the outdoor furnace. It wasn't much of a walk there, but a group of five men stood on their way. Then suddenly the corgi snapped and growled at them.

"Zwei, what's wrong?" Ruby reached to pet him, but he didn't stop growling. "Weiss, what's going on?"

Weiss couldn't sense anything good from them, and Zwei's uncharacteristic growl made her wary. Her left hand perched on her sword's hilt as she talked to Ruby with voice as calm as possible. "It's nothing. I can see the charcoal burner's place already. You can go home now without me."

There was a subtle change of Ruby's expression as she started to feel the presence of those five suspicious figures. She already had a foot stepping back and she was more than ready to run away and drag Zwei with her at Weiss' cue.

In a flash of reflex, suddenly Weiss' sword leapt out to meet a stray blade blitzing at her in a clanging clash.

"Ruby! Run—"

Another mercenary leaped on her with his sword ready for an downward cleave. Weiss barely evaded the attack and parried another one when the third one jumped to the fray to skewer her gut. She threw herself to the ground and rolled to distance herself, quickly leaping back to her feet as she sidestepped an incoming blow and defend herself in the one-on-three combat. Using her detrimental body height to her benefit, she successfully baited one man to attack her and escape right before he collided to his partner beside her instead.

A short scream reminded her there was two more, and they were harassing Ruby.

Lashing out a haphazard horizontal arc, Weiss broke free from the three-way chokehold she was in and charged to the mongrels preying on Ruby. While her small body was lightweight, the burst of speed and adrenaline brought enough impact to make her a human artillery to shove one of them away. She swiftly pivoted on the ball of her foot and redirected her momentum and rage to the one manhandling Ruby.

"Leave her alone!" Weiss roared and thrusted to his upper arm. The steel of her sword sliced his skin open and clawed out splash of blood from his flesh, forcing him to let the blind girl go and faced the snow-haired knight. They exchanged clashing sword blows, her skills against his circumstantial upper hands.

Weiss' slim superiority, however, was quickly tore down by another assault to her right flank by one of his accomplices. Her timing wasn't perfect enough to warrant her a flawless dodge and her upper right arm was hit by a lucky slash. Stampeding adrenaline let her fight onwards while shrugging off the pain and cuts, vainly trying to push them back while Ruby was taken hostage again by their compatriot.

Ruby tried to berserk free, but to no avail. Zwei swooped to the rescue and bit him on his calf, forcing him to let her break away from his hold. Unfortunately, the fear of the moment disoriented her balance and her disabled eyes couldn't provide her any help but to quadruple the panic.

The mercenary quickly recovered. He kicked the corgi to the curb and yanked her by her hair. "Damn! 'Tis feisty silver-eyed bitch will make pretty cash at Atlas City's brothel!" he laughed in sick happiness over her pained scream.

Weiss growled and made a reckless leap to rescue Ruby. She wasn't prepared with a wide slashing arc attacking her way. Years of honed fight-and-flight saved her from taking lethal direct hit, but her lower left torso suffered a horrible cut through her clothes. Bracing too much with the pain, she lost her finer control and was thrown to her back by a violent sweeping kick to her legs.

The pain, the confusion, the blood loss. Weiss might as well had lost a half of her life and the other life started to buckled down and surrender. Like a bloodied ragdoll, she was splayed on the ground with the ugliest warhound licked his lips at the sight of her pathetic form.

"Yield, princess, and we'll give you painless smooth head chop after we've done with your royal pussy!"

One versus five, with her concentration was fought over between the priority of keeping Ruby from harm and her natural instinct to defend herself. The odds were all against Weiss from the start—and now she laid helpless on the ground with blood all over her, to keep on fighting was a lost cause.

Still, Weiss was a headstrong one, and their vulgar demeaning slurs fueled her fury.

Overtaken by her seething blood, she kicked his crotch and pushed herself to roll away and clambered back to her feet. She utilized the daze of her surprise comeuppance to press on with her frantic but well-placed attacks, beating him all bloody with garnishing of black and blue—a perfect comeback for his perverted impertinence.

Her furious combo was broken by a pummel whack on her clavicle. She fell, but not before utilizing her less dominant right hand to mitigate her disadvantageous trajectory. In splits of seconds she savored her erratic breath and re-focused her hazy vision.

The disgusting hog of a mercenary was bleeding. Every single of his breath was a whimpering roar. "Kill her and chuck her head off! I'll fuck her cunt in hell!"

That disgusting battlecry was enough to rally all five raging mercenaries ravaging her. Weiss had had stood her ground well, but now she was completely overwhelmed. For every blow she parried, another or two would find its way to bite. She almost lost herself to the pain and fatigue, but she fight on and on and on and on and—

She wondered when and how could she laid there, blood creeping out of her body like a slab from a savaged cattle. Her whole body was so hurt that it numbed her and blurry tunnel enveloped her vision. This sensation, she was no stranger with this. This was dying.

She was dying. Again.

Dying begets demise. She once dodged her demise, but Life's mercy wasn't infinite. Was she going to face her demise for real now?

Before her, a roughshod boot kicked her face with a cruel laugh hovering over her body. Across her, the four warhounds sneered, circling Ruby like starving mongrels over a slab of meat.

She squirmed and her arms mustered last bits of energy to push her up, just time for another kick hit her chest and blew any semblance of her remaining strength away.

Stand up. Ruby needed her. She couldn't die just yet.

Yet the reaper of life had put cowl of darkness over her vision and slowly it took away her lungs' ability to pump air into her chest. It would be just a matter of countdowns for her heart to stop beating.

No. Someone, something had to save Ruby. Anyone, anything.

Her eyes were wide open staring at ceaseless extent of black. Her ears would be the next to shut down, to be forever loyal listener of deathly silence. Before it happened, she picked a noise coming from faraway, coming closer and closer and closer—

The noise rampaged in her ears. Zwei's barks, thundering clops of horses' hooves and rumbles of boots beating the earth. The cavalry was here, and with them came the rescue for Ruby.

Yes. Ruby was safe. Nothing else mattered, not even her own life.

Finally, Weiss could face her demise in peace and dignity.

xxxxx

There was this one cliche that said your life flashed before your eyes when you were about to answer Death upon your door.

Weiss found some truth in that literary hyperbole because she had experienced it once.

Drowned in sea of wheat stalks, the dying Weiss Schnee had reviewed her life as ragtag of dreadful stitches; recaps of the proud knight-princess leading a a battalion of Atlesian finest soldiers, then quickly fast-forwarded into horrors of a hunted prey on horseback, dotted with random reminiscences of her folly and vain in opulent dresses and glimmers of Castle White.

It felt so lifetime ago. Ruby had brought too much life that she forgot how close she had been to death.

How far could you play tricks on Death, however?

She revisited the limbo once again. Helplessly watching furious stream of memories, torturous stream of her sweet memories of Ruby tore through her soul again and again.

Silver eyes aimlessly wandering in sightless wonder. Her pure, effortless laugh. Nights of sleepy cuddles. A wild white rose to spark a smile on her face. A glade in the woods, where cool waterstream was a witness of how a snow-haired fool admitted her affectionate adoration towards here. An off-beaten track where she stopped a weak coward named Weiss from running away.

The sequence looped indefinitely, each one always ended up with one same horror: Ruby crying and wailing, holding a bloodied corpse to her chest, begging that dead body called "Weiss" to come back.

Dolt, did the imbecile peasant even realize how futile it was. This time no miracles left for the fallen princess, neither second chance.

Life already had had enough of her vainglorious story and Death was here to scribble "The End" for her tale. And there, right before the last line of her life's story, her last regret was written:

 _And I regret that I die without letting her know what she have done to my heart._

Her end was naught, but it hadn't yet to be there to cut off the stream of her projected memories. Did Death really hate her that much, so much it taunted her with long replay of her life before she died, showing how much she lost to her absolute endgame as a mortal.

Come the dark, she pleaded, come the end of her life so she wouldn't have to be suffocated by thoughts and memories of Ruby any longer. She welcomed Death with open arms.

Death never came. It abandoned her and Life took her back.

Her eyes were yet to open, but she could feel herself alive, moving, and breathing.

Probing in doozy borderline of dark and abstract light, her fingertips rested upon an unkempt bundle of hair. She remembered this, the tenderness that reminded her of sleepless nights when Ruby was deep asleep in her arms and her fingers daringly stroked the sleeping girl's short dark hair.

There was a strangled noise—one of a crying female—then a warm body pressing against hers.

Ruby.

"Hi." Weiss smiled weakly. "Were you waiting for me to wake up?"

Ruby wiped her damp eyes between her sobs and nodded.

Zwei scuttled to the scene, jumped to the bed and attacked Weiss with kisses. She laughed despite it made her jaw and chest hurt. "You're the one alerting the guardsmen, right? You're one of a kind, Zwei. A really smart pooch," she cooed and rubbed the back of his ears.

She almost felt guilty that it took her awhile to realize that the blacksmith and his blonde daughter were there too. Yang chuckled and wished her pleasantries then left for some salve and remedies. Taiyang picked Zwei up and put him down, lightly reprimanding the whining corgi not to disturb Weiss' rest.

Then a portly man dressed in aristocratic garb entered and the blacksmith hurriedly bowed his head.

"My lord, we—"

"Be at ease. I just want to have a talk with her," the lord calmly replied. He gently tapped the dark-haired girl on her shoulder. "Miss, if I may?"

Taiyang carefully led Ruby and she reluctantly left the room.

"So you're Princess Weiss," He appraised Weiss' beaten and bandaged physique. "I see you've healed aptly."

"Are you going to take me to your king then?"

The lord did not flinch at her sharp accusatory tone. Instead, he calmly said, "His Majesty once thought to capture you alive and hold you hostage to discuss a term of peace with Atlas. However, since we discovered your father doesn't wish for you to come back to Atlas alive, His Majesty simply wants to know if you're still a threat to Vale."

"Atlas and Vale can burn for all I care," Weiss replied in grizzled voice, and quickly—almost sarcastically—added, "my lord."

"Aren't you going to fight your way back to Atlas? An effort to reclaim your place as a Princess of Atlas? Or even a revenge—"

"There's something far more important than war, glory or the throne. Or revenge."

Nobles and entitled lords really hated it when someone cut in on their speeches. But this portly lord—both in physique and manner—sat in patience, a kind smile laced under his moustache was his reply to her impertinence.

"Everyone wants their life ends with a fanfare, with glory, but most only will finish theirs with a forgettable whimper," he said. "Tell me then, Princess Weiss, how do you want your life end?"

"Princess Weiss is dead, long time ago, as another casualty of war."

The fallen princess took a deep breath, felt the dull pain on the lower side of her ribs, then smiled at Ruby peeking—or rather, eavesdropping—behind the ajar door.

"But this new life of mine, I don't want it to end. Should I die again, I want memories of her smile to be the thing I bring to my grave."

"So be it, Princess Weiss, so be it." The lord looked over his shoulder to the silver-eyed sightless maiden and made a hearty chuckle. "Her Highness of Atlas is indeed dead, and will stay as it is, but the lady with snow hair is alive and sound for her silver-eyed sweetheart. I'll makes sure of it myself."

To think Weiss Schnee would blush before a Valean lord at the mention of her sweetheart.

"Thank you, my lord." She smiled and dipped her head in sincere thanks.

"Fare thee well. I hope for the handsomest life for you and her together."

The lord left and continued anything he discussed with Taiyang, leaving her to rest in peace. And the said peace was short-lived as Ruby scrambled to the bed and huddled closer to her, another fresh batch of tears streaked her face.

"Weiss, you won't leave, right?"

"Dolt, you practically listened to everything between me and your lord. Did we ever mention about me leaving?"

Ruby beamed and wiped her tears, throwing her arms around Weiss to hug her.

Weiss winced in between her chuckle. "I've just barely survived. Don't kill me with your killer hug."

Ruby shook softly as her laughter was muffled by Weiss' shoulder. "Nope, you're not going to die that easy, because you're strong, Weiss. You're really strong." She looked up, her glassy eyes wavered. "I really envy you. I wish I was as strong as you."

"Dolt, don't you remember? You're the strong one, you were the hero who brought me back from death." The hand wrapped in bandages went to reach Ruby's hand and held it with tenderness. "Take my sword from my hand, take my eyes from me, and I'll be nothing but a woman wishing for the world to just end her life."

Ruby smiled wispily and chuckled. "You're flattering a blind girl too much."

"But what if it's the truth? You are the greatest hero that gives me a reason to live."

She lifted Ruby's hand and laid her lips on its delicate skin. She spied deep shade of crimson coloring Ruby on her face, living up her beautiful namesake. Fighting the sore of partially healed wounds, Weiss shifted Ruby closer to her, so close that

"Ruby."

"Hm?"

"Do you think my wounds has healed enough for us to cuddle all night long?"

xxxxx

Tranquility would dawn even after the harshest of storms. This true serenity, aside from occasional pinpricks of Weiss' recovering injuries, was unlike the false calm of storm's eye.

She learned those five mercenaries had been ravaging villages and hamlets of northern Vale, undeniably in search of Princess Weiss, before they stepped their feet on Patch. They always had been one step ahead from local sentries and Lord Port's soldiers who were after them, and Patch guardsmen were too occupied by resident bandits to properly set preventive measure for their dreaded arrival.

Had not it been for Weiss who—unfortunately—encountered the mercenaries on their way, Patch might have had fallen to the same fate of their northern neighbors. Her mortal wounds wasn't for nothing as it bought enough time for the soldiers to subdue them.

Thanks to her (unintentional, yet no less regarded) sacrifice in defending Patch alone with only a sword, Weiss gained an affectionate notoriety as "Atlesian Swordswoman" by villagers of Patch.

Yes, the villagers finally knew her ambiguous origin as an Atlesian, but that was it. Her real identity as a Schnee royalty was never disclosed. Lord Port must have had his part on this—he indeed kept his words to let the princess died for Weiss to live her life.

Nonetheless, life was good and peaceful. Truly.

Breezes of mid-autumn brought the hearty village pleasant chill to make warm hugs sweeter. Wheat stalks turned gold, heavy with ripe grains ready to be reaped. Strokes of earthy colours, from falling leaves to flourishing pumpkin patches, cheered the hearts of hardworking people of Patch.

This particular day, Weiss had something other than her usual shepherding work and the seasonal labor with a scythe and sheaves of wheat; helping the Belladonnas curating Atlesian tomes and other miscellaneous. Surprisingly, she almost immediately clicked well with the family of peddling merchants. Probably because she easily bonded with the father of the family through their shared interest in olden Atlesian literatures, and the eccentric yet classy taste of his wife amused her. The only Belladonna she had animosity with was Blake, but there seemed to be not much of it left and it made her day particularly better.

Why everyone looked so busy today, however? She never saw these much of people going hitherto with bundles of wheat and carts pulling lots of pumpkins among their goods. "Well, the village is busier than usual, for sure. And what is it with the pumpkins?"

"First time seeing a rural community in harvest month this up-close?" Blake put a volume of Atlesian romantic ballad compendium into the trunk. "As expected from a spoiled Atlesian princess."

Weiss expected herself not to take Blake's remark kindly, hence she was surprised when she heard her own chuckle coming out.

"I think this is too long due, but I want to apologize for accusing you—for everything, actually. If I recall rightly, I even hurt you one time." Weiss was no ignorant with the way her face felt heavy with guilt, and she went on, "I've realized we never have a good start to begin with between us, and I don't think you deserve that."

"No harm done. Besides, I'm at fault too by not telling you sooner about those mercenaries," Blake replied Weiss' guilt-stricken look with good-natured smile. "And again, you make Ruby happy, and in my book it counts a lot. Let's just forget our sour start and move on."

Both women of black and white hair agreed on mutual peace with each other. It was a waste to spoil the pleasing day with past scuffle.

"Anyway, Yang hasn't told you anything? About tonight?" Blake raised her eyebrows to Weiss and her subtle gawk of awe at piles of pumpkins and the huge sheaf of wick in the heart of the village square. "It's Harvest Moon Night. People of Patch will hold a small festivity for everyone."

Weiss nodded with considerable appreciation for the pumpkins.

"And coincidentally, this year, it's Ruby's birthday too."

"…W-what?" Weiss spluttered. She looked at the lowly hanging sun and threw her head backwards in defeat. "Heavens! I won't have enough time to find her a proper present!"

"I have to admit you look adorable when you're all blushing and flustered, but Ruby doesn't love you for just some trivial things she can't see."

Weiss frowned at the way Blake giggled over her plight.

"Oh, don't worry about present, Weiss. Seriously, a hug from you will suffice—you are Ruby's most precious present, you know. So stop glaring at me, if you will."

"Alrighty, what did I miss, eh?" Yang suddenly slipped between them and coiled her arm around their shoulders. Blake welcomed the gesture and snuggled closer, whereas Weiss was far less than pleased.

"Hi Yang. It's noth—"

"Her Royal Pain has a dire emergency. She can't find a birthday present for a certain sweet silver-eyed peasant."

Yang blinked and looked at Blake and Weiss back and forth. She pieced two and two together, and she clapped her hands with a boisterous, "Finally! The princess got some balls! I thought I'd need to hammer some sense into your thick skull!" She locked the shorter female into a noogie. "Come on, Ser White McShorty, we got a quest to do!"

"Stop it, you brute! You hurt my head!" Weiss trashed and tried to swat Yang's fist away but failed. "Blake, kindly put some sense to this oaf's head!"

Blake shook her head and ushered them instead. "I can distract Ruby for the whole day with the new books I've just got from the capital. Go with Yang and find her the best present you can get, you only have a couple of hours left!"

Weiss squeaked as she was dragged by a blonde madwoman. Resigning to her unfortunate fate in the strong clutch of Yang was the only thing Weiss could do.

She didn't regret it, for in the next of couple hours the brute buxom blonde proved to be a great help despite her obnoxious antics and teasing. She was quite surprised by the end of the day that the perfect gift for Ruby—as told by Yang's wisdom—was actually something simple. Too simple, actually, that she had her doubt. Until her memories reminded her about a mere handful but hearty moments of the silver-eyed girl and roses.

Later she found out Yang's help wasn't free. She had to pay it by keeping Ruby company all night so the blonde blacksmith could dance with a certain bookish woman. She agreed with the term almost immediately—it was a win-win situation anyway.

Now confident with her preparation, Weiss would be ready for the Harvest Moon Night.

Traces of duskfall hours had vanished and starry sky dawned, but Patch was still alight by the full moon and the giant bonfire roaring in the heart of the village. Music played the spirit of the night, possessing men and women, from young to old, to live up the night. Warm pumpkin spice drink passed and shared to everyone. Those who were afire danced, and the folks who preferred enjoying the dance performed by nightly wind and bonfire's warmth sat back and enjoy their treats of pumpkin desserts.

Ruby settled herself comfortably with a mug of the feast's signature drink warmed her palms and lap, strangely estranged herself from both her sister and her father. Her head bobbed, following the sound of laughter and footsteps of the dancers rather than the music. Taking closer look, there was a thin mirth of envy that hid between her smile and her shining silver eyes, a sigh left her after her sips of the spiced pumpkin juice.

Weiss knew what she wished, and she would make it come true this night.

"May I have this dance?"

Ruby sighed and set her mug down beside her, almost spilling the sweet liquid content over her own skirt. Her feet shuffled slightly and tapped to the music. "You can't dance with someone blind, Weiss."

"Oh? Well, _watch me_."

With such an uncharacteristic display of playfulness, Weiss pulled Ruby to her feet. She had no choice but clutched on Weiss' shirt and followed, letting the unusually jubilant former royalty to set them up in a dance to the andante festive beat. Despite her initial reluctance, they quickly blend into the dance almost flawlessly.

Weiss had had years of balls and social functions under her belt, but it wasn't the reason why this dance was perfect. For princesses, dancing became their second nature, but the joy had been bleached away as it became a stale routine and a possible gateway for marriage of convenience. With Ruby, it felt so much alive. Perhaps it was due to her cute likeness to an awkward duckling, or how she clung to the former royal's shoulder with all her life.

Or maybe it was for something more sentimental—to share the joy of dancing for a maiden whose beautiful eyes could never see anymore.

Why, it was zanily intriguing. Countless posh and powdered Atlesian noblemen had invested their fortune to perfect their dancing skill, and they had always failed to impress Weiss. Imagine the embarrassment they would suffer from—when they learned a blind peasant effortlessly charmed the princess.

The cloud of awe and wonder was popped by a dull sting ailing her toes, where Ruby's foot conveniently crushed hers under its weight.

"Sorry, Weiss—" Ruby stepped on her foot again and grimaced. "Weiss, we really should stop dancing before I kill your feet and toes."

"Please, I've survived a big war between two kingdoms and still alive after fighting mercenaries one-to-five. Getting my foot stomped by you won't kill me." Weiss soldiered through and masked her wince as dignified as possible. "Or perhaps, are you mocking me and my feet's tenacity, peasant?"

Ruby played along with a dramatic gasp. "Have mercy, Your Highness! This dolt doesn't mean to damage or insult your royal feet!"

The drum beats rolled faster and the flute and lute shifted too fast for Ruby to follow safely, but they danced on in their own pace. Being out of sync with the music didn't break them, for they had been too immersed in each other that they were in a trance together. A trance for Weiss to lose herself once again in those argentine eyes.

Looking over Ruby's shoulder, she could see a thumb high up from Yang and Blake's nod of approval before they went on with their own dance. She almost missed it, but she spotted Taiyang laughed and smiled at her from the refreshment table.

Weiss took a deep breath and puffed her chest. _Alright_ , _here goes nothing_.

"Happy birthday, Ruby."

"Wha?"

"I said—" Weiss sucked the air in, sharper than earlier intake, and her voice rose by a pitch. "Happy, birthday, you dolt! I-I don't have time or resource to get you the perfect gift, s-so I hope this dance and this little something will do?"

She beat Ruby's curiosity and placed her hand to touch the delicateness of the gift.

"Is this…?" mumbled Ruby.

Humming a soft "yes", Weiss guided the blind girl's fingers to glide along smoothened bramble and soft swirly petals. A crown made from red and white roses wreathed into a lovely circlet. A simple, if not trivial, little thing for others—but she knew its true value to Ruby. Hopefully she wasn't wrong about that.

Gently, Weiss laced their hands together to rest the circlet upon the birthday girl's head.

"So…" Ruby smiled shyly, cautiously brushing her fingers over her hair and the woven roses. "How do I look?"

Weiss let her chest bound tight by the unadulterated beauty standing before her. The coronation of the roses did more than bringing out the shine of Ruby's eyes; red and white petals redefined her existence. Fairy tales were never real, yet now before her a peasant girl had just been turned into a beautiful princess, no, an ethereal queen of roses christened by harvest moon and festive bonfire. Or perhaps this was no human, but a fairy of the silvery moon unmasking her real beauty to ensnare the lovestruck snowflake under her charm?

So many praises, so much adoration Weiss wanted to serenade Ruby with. Alas, she was too tongue-tied that her royal eloquence couldn't even help with it.

"You're… the loveliest of all, my lady."

"Silver tongue."

"Most royals are born with silver tongue, indeed, since we were born with silver spoon in our mouths," Weiss laughed. "But only the chosen beauty will be born with silver eyes."

Ruby hit Weiss' shoulder with a coy giggle, her twinkling eyes waned into crescent moons of joy over her blushing cheeks. "Thank you, Weiss. This is really lovely." Her lips lingered as a smile, yet the mirth ebbed and replaced by something Weiss couldn't put her finger on. "...and I think for your present I owe you something you should know."

"Pray and tell this knowledge you owe me, then."

"Do me a favor and hear me out?"

Sensing the apprehension lacing her words, Weiss held her hand gently as her encouragement to go on.

"Weiss, I love you—"

Ruby shook her head furiously, her petite frame shrunk and she pulled her hand away.

"—B-but I helped you sincerely, I swear! Not because I wish you'll love me back! I love you because you're strong and kind and-and-and—gods, I messed up! I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Weiss!" Ruby backed away from Weiss in puny backsteps, thin mist of dammed tears clouded her eyes. "I tried to love you without being demanding or selfish, I really tried! But I guess I'm not that strong—I'm just a blind girl, after all."

By what means Ruby defined her love to be something not sincere? A human's nature, among infinitesimally many, was to have their love reciprocated. Blind or not, everyone deserved giving and receiving love. Why she took her love like it was a sin? Hers was innocent.

The one who truly committed the sin was Weiss. Slaved by her pride like a dolt she was, she had kept on denying herself that it hurt someone she had vowed to protect the most. Like any other sins, hers must be repented.

"I believe your love is sincere, but I'm sorry, Ruby..."

Weiss stepped closer. Ruby hesitantly turned her head to where the voice came from, directing her blind eyes in line with the blue ones belonged to the snow-haired female.

 _I'm sorry, Ruby, for taking so long to admit it_.

"...I've fallen in love with you too."

Right afterwards, Weiss made herself blind for a moment. So scared of the aftermath for her confession, she was, that she had to resort in closing her eyes to hide. Leaning slowly forward, she seek for unseen joy a coward in love, much like herself, was looking for.

The touch of Ruby's hand holding her face gently chased away her fear, a stream of reassurance moved her to held Ruby by the hips and tore down the last gap between them.

Amongst the laughter and festivity, they were silent and still. In the dark before their eyes, they held each other close with their lips danced slowly in their first kiss.

xxxxx

"...Thus, the captain went aloft—"

Weiss sighed for the umpteenth time of the last couple hours when her reading was disrupted by a roll of laughing girl and yipping corgi. "If I knew you were going to play with Zwei and ignore me, I should've stayed at the forge. Your father needs all help he can get for his big order of hoes and pitchforks."

"Sorry, sorry." Ruby sat up and smiled sheepishly. "Y'know, I don't like the fact 'hoes' and 'whores' sounds almost the same. Just pointing it out"

"Oh you tell me."

Zwei corgi wiggled on Ruby's lap and licked her face, earning him a giggle from her and an eye roll from Weiss. "Zwei, I appreciate kindly it if you stop hogging Ruby's short-span attention."

"Oh, Weiss, are you jealous of Zwei~?" teased Ruby and then scooted to the direction of Weiss' voice.

"What?" Weiss snarled to the grinning dog. "Ugh, let's just go home. It's not like you'll listen to me reading for you, anyway."

"Nononononono! One more story, pretty please!" Ruby clung on the right arm of the snow-haired female. "I'll sit tight and listen to the whole thing, and no Zwei! Shoo shoo, sit away from me, boy!"

The corgi woofed and sat outside their arm's reach, head cocked to the side cutely as his beady eyes stared at Weiss. She hummed a thanks to the black and white pooch for his understanding to hand over Ruby's undivided attention to her.

One more story, so might as well make it one of a kind. Something never told by any books. She gently closed the book and set it aside, careful not to make a sound.

"…Once upon a time, there was a vainglorious princess. As graceful as she was in dress and danced at royal balls, she was a mighty knight in armor and rode on horseback. Her kingdom was at war with its rivaling neighbor, hence she rode into the battle with the best force of her army. Favor of the gods was with her, her soldiers were strong and invincible, her strategy was well-thought. It was obvious her victory was reassured. "

"No, there was no victory served on silver platter, like what she thought. She was crushed by unexpected defeat that forced her to run like a wounded game for bloodthirsty hounds. She paced her warhorse until the beast of burden collapsed and threw her to the ground. Indeed, she lost her horse, but not her legs and her will to survive, hence she pushed forward running in desperation. Then, just like her horse, her own legs failed her and let her slumped down, dying among wheat stalks. But—"

A yawn coming from Ruby's gaping maw and she slumped her head on Weiss' shoulder. Zwei plodded and plopped on the latter's lap, seemingly more interested in the story time than stealing Ruby's attention again.

"Sleepy yet?" chuckled Weiss.

"A little, but please, do continue."

She pulled the younger closer for more comfortable snuggle, her fingers raked through the dark hair of her lover and her free hand petted the stubby fur bundle. "But when she thought she was about to die, a pair of kind hands lifted her from the brink of death. And those hands belonged to a blind girl. The princess, instead of being grateful, turned away from the blind girl with scorn. Unknown to her, gods punished her. Looking for her way back to her kingdom, she learned the bitter truth instead. She was wanted to die, was hunted for her head. The king, her own father wished her death more than anything, more than anyone. The enemy's king obviously would do things to make sure she didn't survive. Gold coins were offered for her head, making anyone aspiring assassins around her."

"In the brink of her desperation, she went back to the blind girl and her family and humbled herself to their hospitality. Who would ever know hard but honest labor and warmth of their humble home could cripple the princess' stalwart arrogance? And this sweet blind girl, she did something unimaginable; making the princess fell in love with her. Alas, proud she was, the princess never admitted it even to herself."

Zwei yawned on her lap. The sun's golden beam slowly grew redder. She had only so much time for her story before it got dark.

"Days became weeks, then weeks became months. The princess was in torn with her love for the blind girl and her fear of people hunting for her head. Then, like a nightmare, a band of mercenaries came to fetch the princess' head for her father, but they also harrassed the blind girl. Drawing her sword once again, the princess had to fight not just for herself but also for the blind girl. Overwhelmed, things went into south as the princess and her sword laid bloody and helpless on the ground. _Oh, I'm going to die without even before telling her I love her_ , the princess thought, and—"

"Wait," Ruby interjected with a cute frown. "I never know this story, but it still rings a bell."

"Oh really?" Weiss arched her eyebrows in such overarching fashion. "This is unfortunate. I guess there's no point for me to continue."

"What! No! If you start a story, you gotta end it!"

"You seems to know the ending already, so there's no purpose on that!"

"Come on, Weiss, just tell me!" Ruby huffed and puffed her cheeks. "Pretty please?"

Chivalry dictated Weiss to answer to her lady's plead, and so she would. How would she tell Ruby the ending of her life's tale, however?

She sat back and took her time to drank in her surrounding. The whole world had been washed in warm colours, a result of autumnal atmosphere being in cahoots with streaks of sunset. Washed by light, the dark strands of Ruby's hair shone with the crimson tips created the soft illusion of her namesake. Making way for the night and the stars, the curtseying sun brought wonderful colours of sunset painting silver canvas of Ruby's eyes—of twin silver moons bathed in red-gold warmth.

Under this sunset, a muse dawned on Weiss.

Long lost the delicateness of a princess' fingers to the calloused palms of a shepherd and sinewy extremities of a blacksmith's aide. She didn't regret it—the princess of vain had died for a nobody called Weiss to live and love the most selfless hero with silver eyes. The roughness of her fingers pads brushed against tender contours of Ruby's cheek, savoring it just as much before she leaned and kissed Ruby gently.

"It's just another boring happily ever after for the princess and the blind girl—We live on and in love with each other," Weiss giggled softly in between their kiss. "It's my happily ever after with you, my hero."

XXXXX

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Thank you for reading! Don't be so shy to roast me and covers me in that sweet sweet feedback!

Shoutout for **Adjudicato** for his insight and guidance. I can't thank you enough, bruh. Check his works, they're all amazing!


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